Andy Murray Becomes The First British Tennis Player to be Crowned The World Number One -
>>AND He Didn’t Even Have to Lift His Racket
- Reaching Paris Masters final allowed Murray to knock Djokovic off top spot
- Murray was due to play Milos Raonic, 25, but the Canadian injured right leg
- Briton has reached 11 finals in past 12 events, winning 73 matches on way
Daily Mail UK, 6 November 2016
Andy Murray became the first British tennis player to be crowned world number one yesterday when his semi-final opponent in Paris had trouble getting out of bed.
Reaching the Paris Masters final with a walkover was enough for Murray to knock Novak Djokovic off the top spot.
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Murray was due to play Milos Raonic, 25, in a repeat of July’s Wimbledon final, but the Canadian injured his right leg during his quarter-final game.
Raonic said yesterday:
‘This morning I had trouble waking up and getting out of bed. I had some tests and an MRI and they found I have a grade one tear in the right quad so I’m unfortunately not able to compete.’
Reaching the top spot has been a long hard slog for Murray and he holds the record for the longest time between going from number two to number one.
It crowns an incredible year. Murray has reached 11 finals in his past 12 events, winning 73 matches on the way – a personal record. And in February, wife Kim gave birth to their daughter, Sophie.
Last night he said his achievement was the culmination of many years of hard work.
‘I feel like getting to number one wasn’t about this week, or about last week. It’s been many years of work to get here,’ he said.
‘The most satisfying thing is that it’s been such a difficult thing to do in my career. In the beginning I always wanted to win a Grand Slam, but now that I’ve gotten older, getting to number one was something I have tried to do.
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‘I needed to improve my consistency and the last couple of seasons I have done that. I’m happy to have done that.’
He added:
‘It feels a little bit strange how it’s happened today and obviously unfortunate that Milos is injured.’
Today Murray will play American John Isner in the final.
But whatever the outcome, his world number one ranking will be officially confirmed tomorrow.
Tributes from other sports stars flooded in, including from fellow Scot Stephen Hendry, the former world snooker champion.
Hendry tweeted:
‘Good work andy_murray world No 1 what a feeling to look down on the rest.’
Murray becomes the 26th man to hold the top spot since computerised rankings began in 1973
Golfer Justin Rose also tweeted his congratulations, and tennis legend Martina Navratilova said:
‘Congratulations for reaching the pinnacle of our sport.’
Murray becomes the 26th man to hold the top spot since computerised rankings began in 1973. It is determined by his best 18 tournament results over the past 52 weeks.
Last November he helped Great Britain win the Davis Cup for the first time, celebrated his second Wimbledon title in July, and successfully defended his Olympic title in August.
Raonic’s injury may have seen the semi-final cancelled but it did not stop Murray giving the crowd at the packed Paris arena some entertainment as he played a few shots with the delighted ball boys and girls.