RICKY DIMON RECAPS THE 10 MOST INFLUENTIAL MATCHES THAT DECIDED THE ATP TENNIS TOUR’S YEAR-END NO.1 RANKING FOR 10SBALLS

Written by: Staff on 21st December 2016

RICKY DIMON RECAPS THE 10 MOST INFLUENTIAL MATCHES THAT DECIDED THE ATP TENNIS TOUR'S YEAR-END NO.1 RANKING FOR 10SBALLS

epa05647081 Croatia's Marin Cilic in action against Argentina's Federico Delbonis during their match of the Davis Cup final between Croatia and Argentina in Zagreb, Croatia, 25 November 2016. The Davis Cup final between Croatia and Argentina will take place from 25 until 27 November 2016. EPA/ANTONIO BAT |

For the first time in the history of the ATP World Tour, the year-end No.1 ranking all came down to the final match between the top two players. Andy Murray defeated Novak Djokovic at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals to finish a season No. 1 for the first time in his career. For much of 2016, however, that seemed unlikely at best. But how did the race become so amazingly close? Ricky takes a look at the 10 most important matches that decided the top spot.

10. Roberto Bautista Agut d. Djokovic 6-4, 6-4 – Shanghai semifinals

Djokovic came up 630 points short of Murray in the final rankings. The difference between a title at the Shanghai Rolex Masters instead of a semifinal setback? You guessed it: 640. Of course, a title for the Serb would have also meant that Murray finished runner-up instead of lifting the trophy, so Djokovic actually would have come out on top of the final rankings by 410 points instead of 10 points. Either way, Bautista Agut’s upset was a huge one–both for the Spaniard and for Murray.

9. Marin Cilic d. Djokovic 6-4, 7-6(2) – Paris quarterfinals

Cilic may not be considered by everyone to be a worthy Grand Slam champion (2014 U.S. Open), but the bottom line is that when he gets hot, he gets real hot. Just ask Murray (lost to Cilic in this summer’s Cincinnati final), Roger Federer (lost to Cilic in the 2014 U.S Open semis), and Djokovic. In the Paris quarterfinals, the Croat broke his adversary three times in two sets. Had Djokovic won, he would have been a heavy favorite against John Isner in the semifinals and likely would have faced Murray for the title.

8. Murray d. Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-5 – Paris second round

Murray ended up bagging the full 1,000 points as the Paris champion. But he was almost bounced out with next to nothing. Although Verdasco was 1-11 lifetime in the head-to-head series heading into the BNP Paribas Masters, he had been competitive at times–including in a five-set Wimbledon quarterfinal loss in 2013 (Murray went on to win the title). The Spaniard had a break point at 5-5 in the third set of this contest, but he could not capitalize and promptly got broken at love to end his upset effort.

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

7. Murray d. Radek Stepanek 3-6, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3, 7-5 – French Open first round

Murray went a long, long way in each of his two Paris-based tournaments this season. Not unlike his indoor run in Bercy, the Murray’s Roland Garros bid came perilously close to never getting off the ground. In fact, he lost his first two sets of the tournament to the wily veteran Stepanek. Although the 37-year-old Czech disappeared in the third and fourth sets, he righted the ship for a competitive fifth. Stepanek even found himself two points from victory with Murray serving to stay in the match at 4-5, 30-30, but the No. 2 seed managed to survive.

6. Murray d. Djokovic 6-3, 6-3 – Rome final

The first half of the 2016 campaign was a one-man show, to the extent that the race for the No. 1 ranking appeared to be all over following the clay-court swing. It almost certainly would have been over if Djokovic had secured the Rome title, but it proved to be one of his few early-season blemishes. Although he came within one match of lifting the trophy, he didn’t come close against the Scot. Murray did not drop serve a single time and broke Djokovic three times to coast in one hour and 36 minutes.

5. Stan Wawrinka d. Djokovic 6-7(1), 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 – U.S. Open final

The final margin between Murray and Djokovic was 630 points, which is not a whole lot considering it all came down to the last match. Simple math also makes it easy to see that this battle between Wawrinka and Djokovic also made the difference, as a triumph for Djokovic would have given him an extra 1,000 points that he instead left on the table. As usual, this rivalry produced the most incredible points amidst the most intense pressure. It was Wawrinka who recovered from a grueling first-set loss to capture his third career major title.

Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland hits a return to Novak Djokovic of Serbia during the men’s final on the final day of the US Open Tennis Championships at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 11 September 2016. The US Open runs through September 11. EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO

4. Murray d. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6(10), 6-1, 3-6, 4-6, 6-1 – Wimbledon quarterfinals

With the likes of Djokovic and Federer out of the way, Murray had no trouble blazing through championship weekend at Wimbledon with blowouts of Tomas Berdych in the semis and Milos Raonic in the final. But the second seed almost exited before he ever got that far. He blew all of a two-set lead against Tsonga in the quarterfinals before righting the ship to survive–more like dominate–a fifth. Murray doubled his winners to errors numbers (46 to 23) and even Tsonga finished with more winners than errors (59 to 47) in a losing effort.

3. Sam Querrey d. Djokovic 7-6(6), 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(5) – Wimbledon third round

The biggest upset of 2016 marked the beginning of Djokovic’s second-half demise. Wimbledon’s top seed was still looking like a real contender to win the calendar-year Grand Slam–having already gotten the job done at the Aussie Open and French Open–when he took the court against Querrey. But an out-of-sorts Serb started slow and could not climb all the way back when the rain-delayed contest resumed one day later. Querrey, who had dropped five-setters in four of his past six appearances at the All-England Club, managed to avoid a decider by stealing a wild, back-and-forth fourth set.

2. Murray d. Djokovic 6-3. 6-4 – World Tour Finals final

This is obviously what decided the whole shebang–but it ranks No. 2 on this list because it came within one point of never taking place. Although Murray had won seven of his last nine events and 49 of his last 52 matches (23 in a row, too), a brutal road through London saw him survive grueling thrillers against Raonic and Kei Nishikori. Djokovic, meanwhile, had positively rolled over the competition during his bid for a fifth straight WTF title. But fatigue played no part in this one, as Murray–aside from a few hiccups near the finish line–dominated pretty much the entire way.

1. Murray d. Milos Raonic, 5-7, 7-6(5), 7-6(9) – World Tour Finals semifinals

Murray’s penultimate appearance of the season was unquestionably his most dramatic. In fact, it was arguably the most dramatic, nerve-wracking contest of the entire 2016 ATP calendar. Had the world No. 1 fallen to Raonic in the London semifinals, he would have needed Nishikori to stun Djokovic later in the day in order to maintain the top spot. That, of course, was never going to happen (Djokovic eventually cruised 6-1, 6-1). Knowing this was a must-win situation, Murray survived an uproarious three-hour and 38-minute affair (the longest best-of-three match of 2016) in which he fought off one match point and squandered three before converting his fourth chance at 10-9 in the third-set tiebreaker.