ANDY MURRAY REACHES NO. 1 FROM RICHARD EVANS, PARIS

Written by: Staff on 5th November 2016

BNP Paribas 2016 Masters Tennis Tournament

ANDY MURRAY REACHES NO. 1 FROM RICHARD EVANS, PARIS

epa05618964 Andy Murray of Britain holds a press conference at the BNP Paribas 2016 Masters tennis tournament in Paris, France, 05 November 2016. Murray becomes world number 1, taking Novak Djokovic's place, after winning his semifinal match by default after Milos Roanic of Canada forfeited on injury. EPA/IAN LANGSDON |

Strange to reach the pinnacle of your sport without hitting a ball. But Andy Murray wasn’t bothered about that after Milos Raonic had been forced to withdraw from their semi-final at the BNP Paribas Masters here.

No one needed to tell the Scot what it had taken to become only the fourth player in the last ten years to become No 1 in the world. “It wasn’t about this week, it wasn’t about last week or a few days here and there,” he said. “It’s about 12 months of hard work.”

Just how much hard work is difficult to imagine from a distance. To get a close up perspective, one needs to listen to the man who has been in the trenches with him all year, Jamie Delgado, the former doubles specialist, who left his job with Gilles Muller to grab the chance of working with Murray.

“Andy’s capacity for hard work is quite extraordinary,” Delgado told me. “He can be flat out exhausted after a long session during our training blocks, his heart going at 190, and he’ll get up and go for more. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Ivan Lendl remains Murray’s top coach, of course, and will be at the ATP Finals in London. Andy recognized Ivan’s input but, in answer to a question, he was quick to mention Delgado. “I have to give a lot of credit to Jamie Delgado,” he said. “He’s been there for every tournament. He’s been there every single day working with me from the beginning of the year. And that’s what this has taken – a full year’s work.”

Murray admitted he did not expect to reach the top this year. “After the French Open, when I was quite down after losing in the final, I never expected to do this. I was so far behind Novak in points and the amount of matches it would take me to do it seemed impossible for this year. But, you know, things can turn around quick in sport, it’s just a strange sport.”

That much has been illustrated in the last couple of days with Marin Cilic beating Novak Djokovic for the first time in 15 tries and then John Isner completely outplaying Cilic in the other semi-final a day later 6-4, 6-3 in 1 hr 11 mins to reach only the third ATP Masters 1000 event of his career. Isner had never beaten the Croat before, losing to him six straight times.

But, in fact, there is nothing strange about Murray becoming No 1. There is no question he is good enough and that he deserves it. He has battled over a decade to stay in the same company as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic, three of the greatest players of all time, winning Olympic Gold at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2012, beating Federer and Djokovic along the way, and he might have challenged for No 1 earlier but for back surgery in 2013.

Andy Murray of Britain returns the ball to Fernando Verdasco of Spain during their round 2 match at the BNP Paribas 2016 Masters tennis tournament in Paris, France, 02 November 2016. EPA/IAN LANGSDON

Injuries, of course, affect everyone and Nadal’s career has been hampered by constant knee problems. Even Federer felt the need to take the rest of this year off because of a back ailment and, as the pair fell away, for this year at least, like autumn leaves along the banks of the Seine, Djokovic started to question his motivation and lost focus.

None of them will be surprised that Murray was ready and waiting to make the final leap to the top, nor will they begrudge him the honor. He is a superb tennis player, an extraordinary athlete and, right now, Britain’s foremost sportsman.

It was a sad day for Milos Raonic whose big, muscular body, consistently gives him problems. He tweeked something in his right quad at 4-2 in the first set against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Friday and knew the injury had worsened over night as soon as he woke up. An MRI showed a tear and the Canadian will now struggle to get fit in time for the ATP Finals which start on Sunday.

Quite rightly, John Isner was jubilant after playing what he described as “my best match of the year”. The form Cilic had shown while beating Djokovic just evaporated in the face of the American onslaught.

“I was playing the right way from the get-go,” said Isner. “I was serving extremely well which took a lot of pressure off me. I was taking my cuts from the back of the court. Returning pretty well, returning aggressively. I certainly put it all together today.”

Looking ahead to a final against Murray, Isner said, “I have never beaten him before. He’s had my number. But I had also never beaten Cilic before coming into this match.”

Isner was full of praise for the new No 1 and does not need to be told of his work ethic. “Yeah, I’ve seen it first hand,” he smiled. “Everyone hears about how much of a hard worker he is and how much he puts into his craft, and what he does off the court, on the court. I see it every day at tournaments. I played him last week in Vienna. He beat me very easily. And I’m in the locker room, stewing over that loss, and he walks right past me to the practice court, as if he hadn’t played enough tennis already!”

Murray has a bit more tennis to play yet. He has never won the title here in Paris and never won the ATP Finals. Goals remain, as they always will for this remarkable competitor, until the moment he lays down his racket. In his mind, next year is already beckoning.

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