In Novak Djokovic's words: 'Andy Murray is a great guy, we should play doubles..'

Novak Djokovic made a debut at Wimbledon in 2005 and already made a name for himself, reaching the third round and returning as the top-40 player a year later. Not playing well in the first five months, Novak had only seven victories on the Tour ahead of Roland Garros (plus four more in the Davis Cup against Israel and Great Britain), hoping to change all that at Roland Garros. In Paris, Novak reached his first Major quarter-final following triumphs over notable rivals like Fernando Gonzalez, Tommy Haas and Gael Monfils, facing the defending champion Rafael Nadal in the battle for the semis. The Spaniard proved to be too strong, taking the opening two sets before Novak had to retire, switching his focus to grass and playing in s-Hertogenbosch and Wimbledon with the new coach Marian Vajda. At the All England Club, Djokovic beat Paul Goldstein, Tommy Robredo and Mikhail Youzhny, dropping only one set in three encounters and setting the fourth-round meeting with a former semi-finalist Mario Ancic.

Against Youzhny, Novak lost the opening set and raised his level right after that, never losing serve again and mounting the pressure on his opponent to find himself over the top and in the last 16. Asked about Andy Murray, Novak said they have been knowing each other since they were 12, playing against each other in France and staying in touch ever since. Djokovic explained that it was easier for Murray to reach the top-50 with the tennis federation and sponsors behind him, also mentioning the pressure on the back of the young Briton as the nation's biggest hope since Tim Henman. Also, he praised his coeval, saying he is the top-10 material and hoping to see Andy in the elite group as soon as possible. Novak and Andy played the doubles at the Australian Open together that year, losing to Nenad Zimonjic and Fabrice Santoro after a decent resistance.

"Andy Murray is one of my best friends on tour; I know him since we were 12 and he is a great guy. He had an easier way to improve and to get into the top-50 by having a lot of support from the country, sponsors and everything. On the other hand, a lot of pressure is on him and he has been dealing great with it, achieving a lot in the last year or so. He should reach the top-10 sooner or later. I don't look at him as an enemy or something like that; we are great friends and rivals who enjoy playing tennis. I hope we can play doubles together again; we were a good team at the Australian Open, only a little bit unfortunate. It all depends on our singles careers, but I hope we can gather and forge the doubles team again. Our first match came when we were 12 in France, it was my first international event and he destroyed me." 

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2X1MJuz