Andy Murray warns Roger Federer on coaching following retirement

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Andy Murray has warned that Roger Federer could find coaching “challenging” because no other player will ever be as talented as the Swiss genius. The 20-time Grand Slam winner brought down the curtain on his playing career amid emotional scenes at The O2 on Friday night. But Federer, 41, has stayed at the Laver Cup and enjoyed playing an active part in giving advice to his Europe team-mates.

He told Matteo Berrettini to hit his backhand down the line more during his singles win and urged Cam Norrie to serve-and-volley. Federer wants to stay involved in tennis. The Swiss superstar said he would be open to commentating for the BBC at Wimbledon and his management company co-own the Laver Cup and he is likely to captain Team Europe in future.

Murray said if Federer were to go into coaching he would be “motivated to be coaching in the big matches and helping there.” But the Scot, who is coached by eight-time Grand Slam winner Ivan Lendl, added: “Obviously with his experience, the one thing that is I think difficult when you are as talented and have as many options as him is to remember that not everybody can do the things that he did.

“Sometimes, he might see a shot and be, like: ‘Oh, maybe, he should have played that one’. But he had the ability to play everything and he had so many options at his disposal that that’s I think the challenging thing also as a coach sometimes, especially someone in his position. But he’s great on the side. He watches a lot of tennis. He loves the game.

“I think for ex-players that go into coaching, I think that’s important to sort of stay current and know a lot of the players and, you know, study the matches to understand the players’ strengths and weaknesses. I don’t know if that’s something that he will go into, but I hope he remains part of tennis. He said he would. I’m sure he will be here.

“Maybe he does a little bit of TV here and there. I know how much he loves Wimbledon. It will be great for tennis if he can stay around a little bit.”

Last year’s Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini, who partnered Murray in the doubles yesterday, added: “I think he would be a great coach. He sees tennis as like not a lot of people sees tennis like that. Not just because of the way he was playing but because the love that he has for the game and how he watches matches. He always has the right things to say, so I think he would be like a great coach.

“I don’t know if he wants to do that. Also, I don’t think he’s just going to coach like everybody. He’s going to pick wisely. I think for tennis obviously it would be special, but I feel like he should do what he likes to do.”

Murray was among the players to shed tears on Friday night following Federer’s final match in tandem with Rafa Nadal. “It was obviously a special night,” said the Scot. “It was very emotional, especially seeing Roger’s family there and his children and everything. It was really nice but very emotional, as well.

“I found the few days in the buildup to that day as well, like, I found myself thinking a lot about these last sort of 10, 15 years more than I probably have done before. When I was going through some of the injury problems, I didn’t know if I was going to play, I was thinking about it from my own perspective.

“But maybe looking at it more in a broader perspective, like thinking about what Roger’s done for the game and what Rafa and Novak, as well, and what this period has been like, it has been special. We’re lucky to be here and be present for Friday night.”

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