Season in review: For the first time since 2009, Murray was an absolute force at the Masters 1000 level. He captured titles in Madrid and Montreal to go along with runner-up performances in Miami and Paris. Having also reached semifinals in Indian Wells, Cincinnati, and Shanghai, Murray was an awesome 30-5 overall in eight Masters tournaments. By his recent standards, the world No. 2 disappointed at Grand Slams. He tested Novak Djokovic in both the Australian Open and French Open semifinals only to fade drastically near the finish line. Murray ran into a red-hot Roger Federer in the Wimbledon semis before getting upset by Kevin Anderson in round four of the U.S. Open. Still, there is one chance left for the Scot to snag a career-changing title. He has Great Britain in the Davis Cup final, which will be played later this month on the clay courts of Belgium.
2015 record: 68-12
Fall record (post-U.S. Open): 9-2
Best tournament: Montreal title
d. Tommy Robredo 6-4, 7-5
d. Gilles Muller 6-3, 6-2
d. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4, 6-4
d. Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-0
d. Novak Djokovic 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
Biggest win at different tournament: d. Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-2 in Madrid final
World Tour Finals appearances: 6
World Tour Finals record: 10-9
Best World Tour Finals result: Semifinals (2008, 2010, 2012)
Record against other World Tour Finals qualifiers: 57-69
vs. Novak Djokovic: 9-21
vs. Roger Federer: 11-14
vs. Stan Wawrinka: 8-6*
vs. Rafael Nadal: 6-15*
vs. Tomas Berdych: 7-6
vs. David Ferrer: 11-6*
vs. Kei Nishikori: 5-1
* denotes player is in the same group
Quotable: “I’ve tried to juggle the two (the World Tour Finals and the Davis Cup final) so that I don’t have to miss (the World Tour Finals) but also give myself a good chance of playing well in the Davis Cup. It’s important (that) I’m not too hard on myself and don’t just expect to play great tennis at the start at the 02 as soon as I switch back to hard courts. I need to respect what the change to the clay can do to my body and also what it can do to your game, because it’s a completely different movement.”
Outlook: Few accolades are missing from Murray’s impressive career resume. Among them are a No. 1 ranking at any time, a World Tour Finals title, and a Davis Cup trophy. Two are still within reach in 2015. Only one truly piques Murray’s interest–and it’s certainly not the event that is about to transpire at the O2. The two-time major champion at first threatened to skip the year-end championship before deciding to play. But he has made no secret that his priority is the Davis Cup final and he spent the week in between Paris and London practicing on clay–not on an indoor hard court.
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