"How do you coach the greatest?": Chris Evert on why Djokovic-Murray split was the right choice

The 18-time Grand Slam champion Chris Evert has weighed in on the recent split between Novak Djokovic and coach Andy Murray, just five months after their partnership began. The Brit accompanied Nole at only a handful of tournaments, with the Serbian not achieving his usual stellar results.

The former world No. 1 asserted that it was an "intimidating" task to coach her former rival and the 24-time Grand Slam champion. She also believes the decision to separate was the right one for Djokovic.

"Who knows what went on with those two, you know? I'm certainly not on the inside, so I don't even know. I wasn't in the room when they would have these discussions or what they talked about strategy-wise," Chrissie Evert said. "But I think, how do you coach Novak, the greatest player of all time? How do you coach him? I think it's a very… intimidating job to be a coach of Novak Djokovic. And I don't know if Andy could give him the edge he needed."

Evert also suggested that "Mother Time or Father Time" is not on Novak's side and that he may have played his best tennis. "I personally think he's played his best tennis," she added. "Because of that experience, I would never count Novak out to win another Major. My feeling is that he’d be better on the hard courts. He has a better hard-court record, better at Wimbledon. The French, I think, is his weakest Grand Slam."

In Evert's opinion, Djokovic is closer to retirement, especially as it becomes increasingly difficult for him to consistently show the level of tennis he has maintained throughout his career. "It's tough to say goodbye, and it's tough to retire, but you know, I personally feel it's heading that way this year," she stated. "It's so hard. You don't want to say, ‘No, you shouldn't be playing’ this and that, because it's such a personal decision."

"But I will say I think he's played his best tennis, and that's not to say he can still play that miracle, that epic match again, but on a day-to-day basis, that's what you lose when you play 20 years on the tour." Evert highlighted the demanding nature of sustained top-level play. "You just can't be 100 per cent, and you can't have your A-game every single day, and that's what you lose. I think there are too many good players that can get him on an off day."

Djokovic is set to return to the court this Wednesday, May 21st, at the Geneva Open, where he is the second seed. He will face Hungary's Marton Fucsovics in his opening match, a player he has already defeated five times. Their only previous clay-court encounter was in the second round of the 2023 French Open, a tournament Nole went on to win.