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.