Carlos Alcaraz has said that it will be like “playing against both” Novak Djokovic and his new coach Andy Murray when he faces the Serbian next year.

Murray revealed that he would be joining the 24-time major winner’s team in the lead up to January’s Australian Open, with the Scot saying that he was “looking forward to spending some time on the same side of the net as Novak for a change”. 

Djokovic said that his and Murray’s story “has one more chapter” after “25 years of pushing each other to our limits”.

Alcaraz already has four Grand Slams to his name after he beat Djokovic at Wimbledon last summer for the second year running, having also lifted his first French Open title back in June, defeating Alexander Zverev in the final on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

The Spaniard is down, however, in his head-to-head with Djokovic, the current world No. 7, trailing 4-3, with the pair’s most recent meeting coming in the Paris 2024 Olympics gold medal match, which Djokovic won 7-6(3) 7-6(2). 

Giving his thoughts on the Djokovic-Murray partnership for the first time, Alcaraz believes that the 37-year-old has found “the right coach”. 

“It’s going to be incredible for tennis.”

The Spaniard also spoke of his confidence that he will lift the Australian Open title “sooner or later”, with the Melbourne major the only remaining Slam of the four that the 21-year-old has not won. 

“I’m sure I’ll be [the] Australian champion sooner or later,” he said. “Hopefully it will be this year.”

Jannik Sinner will be the defending men’s champion.