Andy Murray is putting in the hours to help Novak Djokovic (Image: Getty)
Novak Djokovic has revealed “dedicated” Andy Murray re-watched all of his first round win at the on video to spot small details missed during the live match.
The 10-time champion reached the third round by beating world No.125 Jaime Faria 6-1 6-7 6-3 6-2 under the roof of the Rod Laver Arena.
The Serbian superstar then revealed his new coach had prepared for the match by reviewing his four-set opening win over American wildcard Nishesh Basavareddy.
Asked how he prepared to face two opponents for the first time, Djokovic said: “I do it together with my coach. With Andy here, Andy has been spending quite a bit of time watching videos. He watched live my first match, but then he watched the replay of the entire match the next morning.
“He’s really dedicated, and I love that because when you watch the match from a different perspective, you watch the replay, you can maybe see things that you haven’t seen in the heat of the battle.
“That’s what we talk about, some of the elements and cues that he might see or I might see when I watch myself. I don’t see the entire match like him, but I see the highlights and certain moments where I feel like I was maybe off balance or I should have played better or moments where I played really well, what I did well.
“Then we take those informations on the practice court. That’s what we’re going to do tomorrow, as well. So we communicate quite a lot actually about tactics, about preparation, analysis.
“I like data. I like video, particularly visual preparation with the video analysis. He does that, too. I mean, at least what he told me throughout his career. We’re matching pretty well there. We speak the same language, so to say. We understand each other very well.
Andy Murray has gone above and beyond (Image: Getty)
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“We had to do more I think work in terms of the first preparation, analysis preparation, for the first two guys that I faced here because there were not too many matches of them. Very young. We had to really also talk to people in the locker room that played them and so forth to try to get as much information as possible.
“Obviously as the tournament progresses, you know the names better, like my next opponent. It would be easier to find material on them to prepare.”
In pursuit of a record 25th Grand Slam singles title, Djokovic will now face No.26 seed Tomas Machac who beat Reilly Opelka – the big-serving American who shocked Djokovic in Brisbane earlier this month – in the third round. The Czech won their last meeting on clay in the semi-finals in Geneva last summer.
Murray was in the player pod on Rod Laver Arena along with three other members of Djokovic’s entourage. His coaching team is now allowed to give coaching advice but there are no microphones to broadcast what they say.
The Serb is “supportive” of the new pods but does not want his coaching advice aired on television.
He explained: “The only thing that I dislike there is the fact that someone from your opponent’s team might be watching the match, and she or he hears that and, of course, then texts the team member. Ten seconds later you have the information. That’s the part that I don’t like.
“So I feel like there should be some discretion and privacy in terms of the actual on-court coaching tactics. That shouldn’t be out there public, I would say, because then it kind of endangers you live during the match.”