Murray’s magnificent year

Andy Murray has enjoyed a brilliant 2016 and he is not finished yet – we look at the story so far.

Britain’s three-time Grand Slam champion has gone from strength to strength in 2016 and has a new goal in mind – taking over from the Novak Djokovic as the world No 1.

A sparkling run of form since claiming the the Rome Masters in May – his first title of the year – has seen the Scot record 48 wins and just four defeats as well as six titles and a couple of runners-up finishes.

The high points have been a second Wimbledon title and a second Olympic goal, but Murray’s 2016 story is a long one that started in the tortuous winter months of his training camp in Miami and yielded an Australian Open final…

More Aussie anguish

With wife Kim expecting the arrival of the couple’s first child, his mind was sure to be elsewhere. A renowned family man having spent his winter training in South Florida, he went to the Aussie Open with no pre-tournament practice other than an exhibition, but he reached a fifth final in Australia.

He had dropped two sets on route to the semi-final where he faced Milos Raonic and, but for injury, the Canadian may have turned a 2-1 advantage into victory but Murray rallied to set up another Grand Slam showdown with Djokovic.

The Serb claimed a fifth crown in Melbourne – four of them coming with victory over Murray – and a tearful Murray was left to reflect on an encouraging start, but a flight home and the prospect of becoming a father.

In his speech, he said: “And to my wife Kim, I’m sure she’s going to be watching back home just now. You’ve been a legend the last few weeks, thank you for your support and I’ll be on the next flight home.”

Slow start

As expected, Murray took an extended break to enjoy the birth of his daughter Sophia and he resurfaced to wins his two singles rubbers in Great Britain’s Davis Cup match against Japan after a month off.

The following week, he headed to America for the traditional start to the Masters 1000 Series, with back-to-back tournaments in California and Florida.

Indian Wells has been a friend to Murray with just one final to his name, but a shock third-round exit to world number 53 Federico Delbonis was not on the cards, and neither was a loss to Grigor Dimitrov at the same stage in Miami, a tournament Murray has won twice before.

Murray then began to show signs of form with a strong start to his clay-court season, reaching the semi-final in Monte Carlo before a defeat to Rafael Nadal, who went on to claim his ninth title at the tournament.

The Scot made amends in Madrid a few weeks later, beating Nadal in the last four before a three-set defeat to Djokovic in the final.

Mauresmo split

Defeat on the Spanish dirt saw Murray lose his world number two ranking and the news soon followed that he was to split with coach Amelie Mauresmo after almost two …

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