LONDON: Andy Murray was tipped to become \u00a0Sir Andy\u00a0 after crowning a golden season on top of the world days after brother Jamie topped the doubles standings, prompting their mother to hail the “kings of world tennis”.
\nAndy produced an imperious display to defeat long-time rival Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-4 and win the ATP Tour Finals at London\u00a0s O2 Arena on Sunday.
\nThe 29-year-old\u00a0s first Tour Finals title came with the hugely significant bonus of ensuring that he remained above Djokovic in the year-end rankings after he knocked the Serb from pole position two weeks ago.
\nMurray\u00a0s victory capped an impressive 2016 that also saw the Scot win the Wimbledon and Olympic singles titles.
\nHaving spent the majority of his career overshadowed by the incredible achievements of Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, Murray can finally claim he is the best player on the planet.
\nLeading British bookmaker William Hill promptly installed Murray as a 2\/1 chance to be given a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II in Britain\u00a0s New Year honours list
\nWere he to be so honoured, Murray would join Olympic champions Sir Bradley Wiggins (cycling) and Sir Ben Ainslie (sailing) as sportsmen with a knighthood.
\n“Come on your majesty @andy_murray for a knighthood. World number one,” tweeted businessman Alan Sugar, a former chairman of Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur.
\nBut while Wiggins is winding down his illustrious career, Murray made it clear he wanted to retain his number one ranking and add to his tally of three Grand Slam singles titles.
\n“I would like to try and stay there, obviously. It\u00a0s taken a huge effort the last five, six months to get there,” Murray said after his 24th consecutive victory brought him a fifth title in his last five tournaments.
\n“I\u00a0m aware that\u00a0s going to be extremely difficult because I had a great year this year and I only managed to do it by one match.
\n“But now that I\u00a0ve got there, I would be motivated to try and stay in that postion.”
\nHe added: “The majors are what gets me working hard and what really, really motivates me. When I go away in December to train, I\u00a0m training with the Australian Open in mind.
\nHis victory over Djokovic capped a brilliant week for the Murray family after brother Jamie guaranteed the year-end doubles world number one pair ranking together with razil\u00a0s Bruno Soares.
\nJudy Murray, the brothers\u00a0 mother and herself a tennis coach, posted a picture of her two sons on Twitter, captioned: “Andy & Jamie Murray: Pride of Scotland, Kings of world tennis.”There was praise too from Federer, widely regarded as one of tennis\u00a0s all-time greats: “Epic start to the year by @DjokerNole. Epic end to the year by @andy_murray, ending #1 #Y? Congrats guys.”
\nAnd the congratulations extended beyond the world of tennis, with JK Rowling, the author of the best-selling Harry Potter books, tweeting: “I\u00a0d almost forgotten what it\u00a0s like when the person you really, really want to win, wins! @andy_murray”.
\nMeanwhile former British number one Tim Henman urged Britain\u00a0s governing Lawn Tennis Association to exploit Andy Murray\u00a0s success by doing all it could to get some of his compatriots into the top tier as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON: Andy Murray was tipped to become \u00a0Sir Andy\u00a0 after crowning a golden season on top of the world days after brother Jamie topped the doubles standings, prompting their mother to hail the “kings of world tennis”. Andy produced an imperious display to defeat long-time rival Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-4 and win the ATP Tour […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n