With Novak Djokovic having lost in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Masters, Andy Murray only had to reach the title match in order to clinch the No. 1 ranking in the world when the new list comes out on Monday. Although Murray did not exactly win on Saturday, he didn’t have to. Instead, the No. 2 seed benefited from a walkover given to him by Milos Raonic.
“Yesterday at 4-2 in the first set (against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga) I started feeling some pain in my leg,” Raonic noted. “I didn’t think too much of it at that point. This morning I had trouble waking up and getting out of bed, so we did some tests. I had an MRI half an hour ago and they found that I have a Grade 1 tear in the right quad. Unfortunately, I’m not able to compete against Andy.”
“It feels a little bit strange how it’s happened today and obviously unfortunate that Milos is injured,” Murray commented. “To get to this stage is about 12 months of tournaments. The last few months have been the best of my career and I’m very proud to get to this moment.
“In the beginning of my career, I always wanted to win a Grand Slam. But now that I’ve gotten older, getting to No. 1 was something I have tried to do. I needed to improve my consistency and the last couple of seasons I have done that.
“It’s something I have never achieved before and wasn’t something that I necessarily felt like I was going to do even this year, even after the French Open or the beginning of the year. I was so far behind in terms of points and the amount of matches it would take me to win. I never expected to do what I had done after the French Open, so I was really down after I lost that match.
“But things can turn around quickly in this sport and it’s just a strange sport. You had Novak losing yesterday to a guy (Marin Cilic) who he won 14 times in a row against. And then John (Isner) beating Cilic today who he’d lost six in a row against. Stuff can turn around quick.”
Murray will be hoping things don’t turn around in his head-to-head series against Isner when they collide in Sunday’s final. All seven of their previous encounters have gone the way of the Scot, who is 6-0 against Isner on hard courts. They just recently squared off in the Vienna quarterfinals, in which Murray dominated 6-1, 6-3.
A much different Isner, though, has been on display in Paris. At risk of missing out on a 2017 Australian Open seed when this event started, Isner will find himself back in the top 20 on Monday regardless of his result against Murray. The 6’10” American has advanced this week with wins over Mischa Zverev, David Ferrer, Jan-Lennard Struff, Jack Sock, and Cilic. Previously 0-6 at the hands of the London-bound Croat, Isner cruised past Cilic 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinals.
“I took the court today with a lot of confidence,” Isner said. “It’s the first time all year coming into a match I’d won four matches in a row. So I knew I was playing well. I knew I was playing the right way, and really, from the get-go, I was serving extremely well. That took a lot of pressure off me.”
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NOOOO!! Damn his volleys were so good all match but he chunks two to end it. Crap…
Tennis saved by the bad volleying, yessss… one of those was a low ball.
YAY #1 Andy!!
Thanks Hawk for wishing Nole well. Hope he comes back strong – we don’t want him to be over. Wishing Rafa back to fighting form too.
Long live The Big Four!!!
Congratulations to Andy Murray! Well done!
Here’s hoping that Rafa comes back strong next year and do does Novak! And Fed!
Long live the big four!
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Congrats to Isner making the final and that was a nice ru speech. I’m relieved that Andy was skilled and strong enough to survive the human trebuchet and win.
Standing next to each other they look like Cibulkova and Pliskova next to each other. But if Pliskova was 6’11, yikes – it’s a completely different sport, imo.
Whenever my favorites play Isner it always makes me nervous, because of that booming serve ….
To clinch the YE#1 ranking, A.Murray has to earn 131 🙂 points more than Djoko at the WTF.
Sorry, it’s not correct.
Little and Large lol ….
Bring back best of 5 sets in Masters 1000s, at least for the semis and the finals ….
Congrats to Andy, another Masters title and also much needed points towards securing YE no.1.
Isner played very well, his returns, movement and FH have improved so much, making him a tough opponent to beat. Murray was simply brilliant, the way he returned Isner’s serves and the way he used all his varieties to beat Isner.
It’s a good match with contrast of styles, and Murray problem solving his way to a win.
The YEC championship will be interesting this year, i think Novak is more vulnerable this year than he usually is, Stan doesnt fear him, Cilic will have more confidence against him now, so probably other players might feel the same, Andys on the crest of a wave ATM so he might see this as a chance to get a win over Novak, of course Novak could still go out and win the whole thing though still, i just think its more open though this time ….
And andy has only iw and mc missing to complete the career masters. Who knows he may get there before nole?
Great win for Andy! I thought his victory was never in question but with Isner one can always end up losing a set…
Novak will have to sort out his marriage issues first, which is the main cause of his lost focus. His tennis is still there, doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel. I also think Novak has to start eating meat because he looks so thin out there probably due to his vegan stupid diet…then he can drop this insane preaching about inner peace and start playing his best tennis again…
Rafa also has his own sort of issues to deal with which require some serious effort…hope he and his team are on top of it otherwise….
Yeah, it does seem like Fed is in the best position to make some sounds next year…
Will Andy continue to rise…well, not sure about it.. top level continuity was never his forte…it was more rise and fall but he may as well surprise us all.,,
Considering all and with Nick taking counseling, boy, we should all be excited about 2017 tennis! ?
It remains to be seen how Murray will fare now he has reached the pinnacle. As Nats points out he is deeply competitive but I have a suspicion he is temperamentally more suited to being the hunted not the hunter.
NK better use the counseling to get his head right. So much talent. Hopefully he does some big things next year.
Nole would have to earn 500 points more that Andy at the WTF.
Doubtful IMO.
… for Nole to win YE no. 1.
Sampras’ record of six straight is safe for a long time.
Novak is done. He needs time off from the game, I hope the Pepe bullshit is the worst of it. I saw it coming as soon as he won the French but I didn’t think the drop would be this precipitous. It doesn’t help that most of his family seem to be in cuckoo land; while the people who have helped him the most, Vajda and Becker, are taking a backseat.
There is no doubt that he surpassed a lot of what was expected of him for a career, but now its becoming disgraceful. He should take a break for his own sake and come back when he is ready. If that means skipping the AO, so be it.
Congratulations to Murray for attaining this goal. He deserves it, having been one of the big 4 for sooooooo long.
Well Done, Andy
Stuart Fraser: “Private jet back to London for the new world No 1…”
Judy Murray: “Mission accomplished. #1”
https://twitter.com/JudyMurray/status/795357364744556550/photo/1
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Nole outperformed Andy points-wise in slams and also in Masters where he netted an additional 1000 points overall.
However, Andy has more than made up the difference in 500 and smaller tournaments to the tune of 1775 points to just 340 for Nole.
Correction to My post on NOVEMBER 6, 2016 AT 8:45 PM.
Andy’s CURRENT lead is 405 points. HOWEVER, Andy’s 275 points that count towards the Race to London will drop off on Nov. 28.
Therefore Andy’s effective lead is just 130 points.
Therefore Nole would have to earn just 200 points more than Andy in London next week to finish the year at No. 1 for the third straight year and fifth overall which would put him one behind Sampras and Federer.
Only tennis is so unnecessarily complicated.
Flashback:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CwrF1DOXgAAMumK.jpg
Flashback:
https://tenngrand.com/2016/11/05/murray-guarantees-no-1-ranking-first-time-face-isner-paris-final/comment-page-1/#comment-221707
#LOL
Flashback:
https://tenngrand.com/2016/11/05/murray-guarantees-no-1-ranking-first-time-face-isner-paris-final/comment-page-2/#comment-221748
LOL
I corrected myself (all you could figure out was that you were wrong which is assumed).
#Hilarious
#YoureWelcomeMyFan
WTF Draw Results:
#ATPFinals draw, Group John McEnroe:
@andy_murray
@stanwawrinka
@keinishikori
@cilic_marin
#ATPFinals draw, Group Ivan Lendl:
@DjokerNole
@milosraonic
@Gael_Monfils
@ThiemDomi
Wow, Andy in by FAR the toughest section.
Thiem in a funk and Milos hobbled.
Gonna be tough for Andy to hold onto YE #1 but if he can keep his high level, he can do it.
Nole should win his three RR matches for 600 points but he could struggle in his semi against anyone in Andy’s section.
If Andy is the best player in the world he shouldn’t be running scared of anyone.
Like Rafa and Nole for example.
#MentalProblemasAreEverywhere