Andy Roddick hints at Novak Djokovic intentionally overshadowing Rafael Nadal's retirement with staggering Andy Murray announcement
Andy Roddick recently opined that Novak Djokovic may have intentionally announced Andy Murray as his new coach on the weekend of Rafael Nadal's retirement. Roddick playfully suggested that Djokovic's announcement overshadowed the tennis farewell of his fiercest rival.
Nadal's final competitive outing at the 2024 Davis Cup Finals on Tuesday, November 19, didn't go according to plan. The Spaniard lost in singles to the Netherlands' Botic van de Zandschulp in the quarterfinals, with Spain ultimately being ousted from the international team tennis event at the same stage.
To make matters worse, the 22-time Grand Slam champion's eventual farewell was widely regarded as underwhelming. Its standout moments were Nadal's speech, and the Spaniard being made to watch a video montage featuring tributes from Djokovic, Murray, Serena Williams, and more.
On Saturday, November 23, four days after Nadal's last ever professional tennis match, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray collectively announced that the Brit would be joining forces with the Serb as a coach. The announcement, unsurprisingly, made waves throughout the tennis fraternity. As things stand, their collaboration is aimed at preparing the 24-time Major winner for the 2025 Australian Open.
Recently, former World No. 1 and 2003 US Open champion Andy Roddick spoke up about Djokovic and Murray's arrangement. Roddick dismissed social media suggestions that the collaboration between the Serb and the Brit is not a serious one. However, the 42-year-old suggested that the attention and the buzz created by the announcement is bound to be enjoyed by Djokovic and Murray.
"I get memes are fun, but there is no part of this that's a joke. I don't think it's a vanity project. Hey listen, is the attention fun? Is the buzz fun? Is it fun to know that you can create a s**tstorm in the tennis world and override any storyline?" Roddick said in a recent episode of the Served With Andy Roddick podcast. (at 20:58)
At this point, the former World No. 1 was interrupted by one of his guests, who cheekily asked Roddick if he was referring to any specific storyline. The 42-year-old playfully answered back with his opinion that considering it was Rafael Nadal's farewell weekend, the Serb and the Brit had "zero reason" to make their announcement.
"Oh, oh, oh! Rafa retired this weekend? Should we dominate the headlines at the end of that week? There was zero reason why this needed to be announced. Zero," Roddick added.
On the same episode of the podcast, Roddick claimed that Murray had previously been approached by several top players spanning men's and women's tennis to coach them. He further claimed that the Brit was persuaded by his family to go ahead with the opportunity to be the 24-time Major winner's coach specifically for the 2025 Australian Open.
"Novak Djokovic is not the first player that has reached out to Andy Murray" - Andy Roddick and insider's revelations on Serb and Brit's collaboration
Andy Roddick and tennis insider Jon Wertheim, who was also featured as a guest on the podcast episode, both claimed that they had inside information to suggest that Murray's family insisted the Brit take up the coaching role in Djokovic's camp. They also claimed that well-established players had previously faced rejection from Murray's camp after they'd approached him for coaching.
Additionally, Wertheim suggested that the Australian Open may also have been a motivation for the Brit to go ahead with the opportunity, because there won't be as much pressure on him in Melbourne compared to Wimbledon, Murray's home Slam.
"I've heard that top players, male and female, Andy Murray has said no to many over these last four months," Roddick said.
"I'll add a little on that, but apparently, I've heard the same thing. This is not the first player that has reached out to Murray, and Murray’s family unit basically said, 'You are going to regret it if you don't do this.'," Wertheim added.
"It's also in Australia right, this isn't like, hey we'll do this at Wimbledon, 'I'm going to be outside anyway,' I mean this is flying across oceans and timezones and I was told that people very close to Andy Murray have simply said, 'We know you too well, we know you are going to regret it if you say no to this. Go ahead and see how it goes.'," Wertheim stated further.
Djokovic played his last match of 2024 at the Rolex Shanghai Masters, where he reached the final before losing to World No. 1 Jannik Sinner. The Serb later withdrew from the year-end Nitto ATP Finals citing an unspecified injury.