Novak Djokovic, with the support of his “old great rival” – Andy Murray – is optimistic that he will go deep in the Minor Grand Slam tournament taking place in the California desert!
“I’m definitely going to go deep in this tournament,” Djokovic said, despite what he described as his “worst ever” start to the season!
“I’ve done, I think, the right things in my preparation. And I’m playing some pretty good tennis these days. So let’s see. Let’s see how far I can go!”
With five Indian Wells titles, Djokovic shares the record for most titles at the tournament in the California desert with Swiss legend Roger Federer.
His first win came in 2008 (shortly after he won his first Grand Slam in Australia) – and his most recent came in 2016 (against Milos Raonic in the final).
But since 2016, Djokovic has been “far from glory”. He has also been in poor form and fitness in the early stages of the 2025 season: dropping out of the Australian Open quarterfinals and being eliminated in the second round of the Qatar Open.
The defeat in Doha came without Murray by Djokovic’s side. But Djokovic has just said that he and his “oldest rival” will continue their partnership as player and coach.
Their relationship will, at least, last through the first half of this year’s hard-court season and through the upcoming clay-court season. He hopes to reap immediate benefits at Indian Wells and the Miami Open.
“I’m enjoying the relationship with Murray. I still feel like we’re getting to know each other on court in a different way than we have for the last 25 years.”
“So it’s obviously a very new role for him. You know, he’s also exploring and trying very hard, you know, to understand how to excel in a new role.”
Although Murray is still quite inexperienced as a coach (which is natural), the former Scot has contributed a lot to Djokovic’s impressive performance at the Australian Open, especially with his win over Carlos Alcaraz.
“It was unfortunate to have to finish the tournament the way I did, but it was due to injury. In terms of playing style, I think I played probably the best I’ve played in a long time, really since the Olympics.”
“So it’s definitely thanks to the work I’ve put in alongside Murray,” Djokovic praised the coach who had at least twice stopped his Grand Slam dream right at the gates of heaven.
Djokovic also said that “Double Sunshine” (referring to the two back-to-back Minor Grand Slams of Indian Wells and Miami Open) would be the perfect stepping stone to build and strengthen the relationship between the two sides.
“Also because outside of the Grand Slams, there are very few tournaments that really inspire me when I wake up in the morning, thinking about where I want to play well. Indian Wells and Miami Open are definitely at the top of the list.”
Djokovic was seeded in the first round and unfortunately his opponent was not his “dear friend” Nick Kyrgios. The outspoken player had just retired in the second set of his first round match.
When Botic van de Zandschulp (Netherlands, lucky-loser) was leading 7-6 (9-7) and 3-0 in the second set, the outspoken Australian was forced to retire due to a wrist injury!
Kyrgios shared about his wrist condition (which required surgery in September 2023, simply to do normal movements like turning a doorknob and no longer in pain)…
“Nobody in this sport has ever had a wrist reconstruction surgery and picked up a racket and played immediately afterwards. There have been players who have had wrist surgery and it’s not as bad as mine.”
“It would be great to meet someone who has had a similar injury. I would go and ask them what the failures were. It’s all a trial and error at this point,” Kyrgios said.
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