Andy Murray has said that the depth of Roger Federer's talent might make it tough for him to become a coach after his retirement.
Federer called time on his professional tennis career at the Laver Cup at the weekend after playing doubles with old rival Rafael Nadal on Friday in his final competitive match.
Federer, who won 20 Grand Slams in his glittering career, ripped up the record books and is widely-regarded as the finest player ever to wield a racket.
Murray, who lost three Grand Slam finals to the Swiss great, was part of Team Europe that suffered a 13-8 loss to Team World in the Ryder Cup-style tournament to ensure Federer, 41, was denied one final trophy.
Federer has hinted that he would like to play exhibition events but has been guarded about the chances of moving into coaching at some point in the future.
“I'm sure if he was to coach one day, which he obviously doesn't need to – he'd pick players that I'd imagine he'd be motivated to be coaching in the big matches and helping there,” Murray told reporters at the O2 Arena in London on Sunday.
“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.
“He had the ability to play everything and he had so many options at his disposal that that's the challenging thing also as a coach sometimes, especially someone in his position.”
Three-time Slam winner Murray backed Federer as a future Laver Cup captain after Bjorn Borg indicated the sixth edition in Vancouver next year could be his last.
“I'm sure Roger is going to stay involved in the event in some capacity and maybe one day captain the team,” Murray added.
“Look, he's great on the side [coaching]. He watches a lot of tennis, he loves the game. For ex-players that go into coaching, I think that's important to sort of stay current and know a lot of the players.”
Murray made his Laver Cup debut in London, joining other members of the “Big Four” – Federer, Nadal and Novak Djokovic in competing for Team Europe.
Djokovic also expressed his hope that Federer would turn his hand to coaching. “I think that Roger can offer a lot,” he said. “I mean … it's logical to expect him to be able to share so many useful and valuable things with anybody really.
“If he ever would consider doing that, I'm sure that he's going to bring a lot of positive things to the improvement of that player, whether male or female, in every aspect on and off the court.
“He's undoubtedly one of the greatest players to play the game, the way he played it, with his style and effortlessness.”
