After about six months as a team, the Novak Djokovic/Andy Murray partnership has ended. In their time together, Djokovic did not win a title but did reach the final of Miami Open, a 67 67 defeat vs. Jakub Mensik.
Most tennis observers expected Djokovic and Murray to stay together for Wimbledon but something has triggered the sudden break up just about a week before the French Open.
On May 7, just one week ago, I posted this on X: “Andy Murray tries hard and really truly cares about Novak’s evolution and improvement as a player, but it just didn’t work out as hoped and expected.”
So now the big question is: Who will Djokovic bring to Paris as his lead coach? There are many candidates but my pick is it will be the man who knows a thing or two about winning a Grand Slam title after the tennis world had written him off as finished. And that’s Pete Sampras.
Remember Pete Sampras was considered washed up and his marriage to Bridget Wilson often mentioned by the media as a detrimental factor in Pete’s demise and mediocre results. This irked Pete who suddenly re-discovered his A game at his final US Open and won the title.
Sampras can be a valuable asset for Djokovic, who similarly has also been written off by tennis experts after a year of substandard results. His last title was the Olympic gold medal from last summer.
Interestingly, Djokovic was in Los Angeles last week for “business” – meeting with Lacoste CEO about extending their partnership for four more years. And it’s more than possible Djokovic could have scheduled a meeting with LA resident Sampras, to see if he had any interest in taking the job. Pete has said in past interviews, he didn’t see himself getting into coaching because of the travel aspect but he also added things could change and anything could happen.
Other possible choices for Novak include Janko Tipsarevic, Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg, Jim Courier or Marian Vajda.
Andy Murray · Novak Djokovic · Pete Sampras · Roland Garros
Steve · May 14, 2025 at 1:17 pm
It was fun while it lasted. Still amazing to me that I envisioned and it happened the following week.
Has Tipsy left Shapo?
Scoop Malinowski · May 14, 2025 at 3:03 pm
It seems so, Tip is not listed as Shapo’s coach on his ATP bio page, the line is blank. Haven’t see him around in a while. Shapo rank is up to 28 now, not too far from his career high of 10 back in 2020.
Sam · May 20, 2025 at 2:21 pm
Scoop, what do you think the odds are that Djokovic hooks up with Sampras?
Scoop Malinowski · May 20, 2025 at 3:16 pm
Billion to one now, as he’s re-hired Dusan Vemic. He might have called Pete or had dinner with him in Los Angeles two weeks ago.
Sam · May 28, 2025 at 5:30 am
Yeah, I doubt his recent appearance in LA was just a coincidence.
Scoop Malinowski · May 28, 2025 at 7:54 am
Vemic apparently lives there and the CEO office of Lacoste is apparently there.
Sam · June 5, 2025 at 5:01 am
I had no idea that Vemic lived there.
Scoop Malinowski · June 5, 2025 at 7:43 am
Vemic is not a name that gets tossed around by the media much, a very low key figure.