"Novak was on the bike and Andy was talking about court positioning" - Jessica Pegula recalls story when Murray coached Djokovic

Jessica Pegula, Madison Keys, Desirae Krawczyk and Jennifer Brady talked about coaches and changes which possibly occur at the end of the season on The Player's Box Podcast. They also discussed the strangest player-coaching combinations, with one coming straight to mind - Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic.

Pegula delved into the process of firing and hiring coaches. "Well, the doubles change-ups have been wild already — pretty entertaining. Singles coaching changes… firing is basically, 'Sorry, this isn’t working out,'" she explained. "A lot of players do trials with coaches for a few months, see how it goes, then continue or stop. A lot is handled through agents too — contracts, numbers, negotiating deals. They take on the brunt of that. I’ve always trialled coaches and just decided based on whether I liked the fit. Usually it goes until the end of the year, then during the off-season you reconvene.

"There aren’t many options, so people honestly start thinking about hiring or firing around the US Open. You don’t want to start the year without someone. If you trial a coach and don’t like them after a few weeks, you have to trial another person, and you quickly run out of time. Next thing you know you’re in Australia with someone you don’t like — stuck in another country for a month. That can be frustrating."

Speaking on personal experience, she said: "For me it’s been pretty straightforward. I haven’t had a ton of coaches; I stick with someone a long time." This is different from Keys, who has experienced more changes.

"Sometimes it’s mutual — some coaches don’t want to travel as much. I also don’t like having lots of people around. It’s hard to find a coach willing to travel more than like 10 weeks, which sounds like a lot, but in tennis that’s nothing when you count training weeks.

"When I was younger, I’d travel to where the coach lived," she continued. "But I was never home, and as I’ve gotten older, I want to be home more. If I have to travel to a coach, I want it to be just a handful of weeks — and that limits your options. Sometimes coaches want to start families or stay home with kids. Other times… I’ve definitely had a few cuckoo coaches. Some incidents where it was very clear: 'We’re not coming back from this.' It’s hard because everything is public. You can’t trial people privately — it ends up on social media. People think you 'fired another coach,' when really it was just a trial that didn’t work."

"I’ve heard stories where coaches poach players — more than players poaching coaches," Brady said. "A coach is working with one player at the US Open, but already talking with another player behind the scenes. Then after their player loses, suddenly they say, 'This isn’t working,' and the next week they’re in Asia coaching someone new. If I were the player who got ditched, I’d be like, 'Hold up — that’s so wrong.' I wouldn’t want to work with someone like that."

Keys added a bit of context to this query. "It happens both ways. Some players start looking before they’re officially done with their coach. And yes, I’ve had coaches come up to me like, 'Are you looking for someone?' and I’m thinking, 'Aren’t you actively working with someone else?' Sometimes your team senses that things are ending — maybe you’ve said things that imply you won’t continue after US Open or Asia. Then agents start quietly feeling out options so you’re not coach-less. There are definitely coaches who poach. It’s not a good feeling. A lot of times the player has no idea it’s happening behind their back."

Krawczyk brought up a spell where she and her coach only lasted two weeks together. "I was playing with another player who brought a coach. We tried him. It ended because of a trust issue," she acknowledged. "We were at Indian Wells, and he handed me his expenses. The number seemed high. So I went to the hotel and got the receipt printed. There were 13 alcoholic drinks charged to my room — added into his expenses. I was like, 'Oh, I’m going to have fun with this.' I highlighted every drink and showed him: 'So… I’m paying for your drinks?' I lost it — but in a satisfied way. We stopped working with him immediately."

When discussing the most surprising coaching-player pairing, Djokovic's partnership with Murray came straight up. The Brit took on the role with the 24-time Grand Slam champion and former rival in November 2024, with them splitting up six months later mutually.

"I think he was curious. Like: 'How does Novak work? What makes him tick?' It’s such rare inside access," Pegula said. She then brought up an interesting story she witnessed in Melbourne earlier this year. "I saw them at Australia — Novak was on the bike and Andy was talking about court positioning and I was like, 'What could they possibly be talking about? Novak does everything well.' But I’d want to see everything too. Like: 'How does he recover? What does he do behind the scenes? How is he still so good?' If you’re Andy, you want to know all of it."