A Murray will finish No. 1, just not that Murray–at least not yet

A Murray will be No. 1 at the end of 2016. Andy, though, still has some work to do.

Although Jamie Murray will not be No. 1 individually in doubles, he and Bruno Soares clinched the year-end top spot as a team when Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert lost their match at the World Tour Finals on Friday. Mahut and Herbert had already been eliminated from semifinal contention, but they would have remained in the mix for year-end No. 1 with a single round-robin win. Instead, the Frenchmen fell to Henri Kontinen and John Peers 6-7(5), 6-4, 10-4.

Whereas Mahut and Herbert compiled a 0-3 mark in Group A despite being the top seeds, Murray and Soares went 3-0 to win Group B. The British-Brazilian pairing be No. at the end of 2016 even if it loses to Klaasen and Ram in Saturday’s semis.

“It takes time to develop a partnership,” noted Murray, who had not partnered with Soares until the beginning of this season. “We were fortunate to hit it off on the right note at the beginning of the year and it gave us a lot of confidence. We knew we could do good things on the court together and the No. 1 ranking shows that…. It’s pretty exciting to be the No. 1 team.”

“My phone is shaking quite a lot now,” said Soares. “It’s a great achievement and now I have to win the title to become the individual No. 1. So I have a chance.”

“They had an amazing year,” assured Andy Murray, who is locked in a race of his own–of course–with Novak Djokovic for the year-end No. 1 ranking in singles. “(They) only started playing with each other in January; won the two slams, which is fantastic. Jamie had not won a (men’s doubles) slam before this year; Bruno neither.

“They obviously complement each other’s games very well. They’ve played I think really [well] in most of the big competitions. They deserve it. They’ve obviously played extremely well this week. They knew pretty much what they were going to have to do (to finish No. 1). It’s a great achievement for both of them. (I’m) very proud of Jamie.”

Kontinen and Peers will contest Saturday’s opening semi against Bob and Mike Bryan. The Bryans battled to a 2-1 record in Group B to finish second behind Murray and Soares.

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