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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