Friendly rivals

Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, born a week apart, have known each other since the age of 11 when they were both playing in junior tournaments. Their rivalry may not have reached the stratospheric levels of the Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal rivalry, but the friendships between the two pairings are similar. Djokovic has won far more than he has lost against Murray, defeating the Scot during some of his most memorable landmarks, including the completion of the coveted career slam by winning the French Open earlier this year.

Even so, the friendship of two of the top four players of the era has sustained -- two days before facing each other in the 2012 US Open final -- Murray's first major triumph -- the two got together to watch their countries Scotland and Serbia square off in a football World Cup qualifier.

After the historic final of the ATP World Tour Finals, in which the top two players in the world faced off to determine the year-end world number one, the two friendly rivals talked about their relationship in the post-final press conference. 

DJOKOVIC

“We should all let Andy enjoy this a little bit. Don't ask him questions about next season. He deserves to be in the moment and to take in what he achieved. His team as well -- and his wife [Kim Sears]. She has to get some credit, guys. She gave birth this year. He has travelled all over the place. I know how it is with my wife, Jelena, what she had to go through as a mother back home with a little baby. So, Kim, well done. She's maybe made even a bigger effort than Andy.”

MURRAY

“When me and Novak speak with each other, we don't talk about tennis, rankings, the matches we play against each other. Maybe when we finish playing, that might change. But we talk about each other's families, children and stuff. We chatted at length this year quite a lot because obviously I became a father the first time. We spoke about the difficulty in keeping the sort of balance in your life with the family and the travelling and the work and everything.

“Both of us have been with our wives a long time, pretty much since we were like 18, 19 years old. We met each other's wives together at that age, as well. We've known each other a very long time. Regardless of what some of you may think, we have a good relationship. It's not always easy when you're playing on court in the biggest matches with a lot at stake, but we've always got on well with each other, each other's teams and families.”