Djokovic and Murray reveal their biggest tennis regrets
Live tennis action is a fading memory through the coronavirus shutdown but 20,000 fans tuned directly into watch old rivals Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray chew the fat on Instagram on Friday.
Sitting on their sofas in the home, the duo spent an entertaining hour reminiscing about some of the classics within their 36-match series, painful losses and even developed the perfect tennis player.
The knockabout banter offered some candid reflections on their glittering careers - both on hold as tennis awaits the finish of the pandemic which includes claimed more than 150,000 lives globally.
Asked which losses hurt the most, both selected matches against one another.
"For me it was the French Open final against you in 2016," Murray, who in addition has finished runner-up at the Australian Open five times, said. "Obviously I'd have loved to win the Australian Open or the French Open but I believe as a challenge for me personally, because clay was such a tough surface for me personally throughout my career, that would have been for me personally my biggest achievement."
The Serb hit back from losing the first set to outplay Murray for the reason that Paris showdown, completing his career Grand Slam along the way.
World number 1 Djokovic has never won the Olympic gold medal though, a feat Murray achieved in 2012 and 2016.
Djokovic said his semi-final defeats against Murray and Rafa Nadal in the 2012 and 2008 Olympics were two of his toughest losses - regarding his defeat by Juan Martin del Potro in the first round of the 2016 Rio Games.
"Maybe that match against you in London, or the semi-final against Rafa in Beijing (in 2008)," Djokovic, who won the bronze medal in Beijing said. "In Rio I felt really good but two days before the match I felt my wrist. It started to be more painful. It's no excuse, I acquired injections, but I felt sad that I wasn't within my best and could work my way in the tournament.
"If I could change any outcomes would be Rio and London."
Three-time Grand Slam champion Murray, trying to salvage his career after hip surgery at the start of 2019, admitted he wished he previously enjoyed his successes more.
"After the issues I've had the previous few years, I sometimes do wish I had enjoyed those moments more. When you start to see the end coming you think… I will have enjoyed the wins as well as the losses which were great matches."
Asked to create the perfect player if indeed they could incorporate strokes from different players, both picked the other person for having the best service returns.
"If I won a free of charge point off my first serve against you I was celebrating like I won a set," Djokovic, who owns 17 Grand Slam titles, said of his fellow 32-year-old.
Both said they would swap for the serves of John Isner or Nick Kyrgios, while Murray said Nadal's forehand was the toughest and Djokovic picked Roger Federer's.
Unsurprisingly these were in agreement on which player is mentally the toughest - Nadal.
"It's like going on court to face Gladiator," Djokovic said.
Asked by a fan what they might have done rather than tennis, Djokovic picked being a scientist.
For Murray? "Right now it could be cool to be a doctor because you recognize what's important in times such as this."
