LONDON (Reuters) – Novak Djokovic will have old rival Andy Murray back in his coaching corner as he attempts to win the Indian Wells title for the first time in almost a decade.
Murray’s management team confirmed the 37-year-old Scot had flown to California on Monday to continue his coaching arrangement with the Serbian 24-times Grand Slam champion.
Djokovic hired Murray ahead of this year’s Australian Open and reached the semi-final before being forced to retire against Alexander Zverev because of an injury.
His only match since then was a defeat by Italian Matteo Berrettini in Doha last month when Murray was not present.
Djokovic is scheduled to compete at both Indian Wells and Miami — known as the Sunshine Double — for the first time since 2019.
He is the joint record holder for titles at both Masters Series events with five at Indian Wells and six at Miami, tied with Roger Federer and Andre Agassi respectively. He has not won either title, however, since 2016.
Three-times Grand Slam champion Murray retired last year after the Paris Olympics and surprised the tennis world when he announced he would be coaching Djokovic in Australia.
Speaking in Qatar last month, Djokovic said: “It’s indefinite in terms of how long we are going to work together but we agreed we are going to work most likely in the States and then some clay-court tournaments and see how it goes after.”
Indian Wells begins this week with Miami on March 19.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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