Novak Djokovic got the bright idea to hire the recently retired Andy Murray as his coach, at least through the Australian Open.

In his bid to land a 25th Grand Slam, the 37-year-old has enlisted the help of Andy Murray, an opponent he faced 36 times and who knows as much as anyone about the strengths of his game.

MELBOURNE, Australia — Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have known each other for a quarter of a century. They played from the age of 12, meeting 36 times as professionals, including 10 Grand Slam matches . Yet they’ve never been able to talk shop and freely trade all sorts of thoughts — about tennis and otherwise — until now.

Novak Djokovic did not want to rehash — or even discuss at all, really — what he said Friday was a months-old interview with GQ magazine in which he recalled having high levels of metal in his blood from food he was served while detained before being deported from Australia in 2022 .

Novak Djokovic has claimed that he was "poisoned" by lead and mercury in his food while he was briefly held in Melbourne in 2022 before being deported on the eve of the Australian Open.I had lead, a very high level of lead and mercury.

Novak Djokovic claimed he was poisoned with lead and mercury at a Melbourne hotel in January 2022 when he was detained over vaccination issues. Djokovic revealed health issues linked to the contaminated food.