After dropping his opening set at the Australian Open to Nishesh Basavareddy, Noavk Djokovic eventually asserted himself for a victory to begin his bid for an 11th championship at Melbourne Park and a record 25th major title overall.

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.