Pressure Mounting on Andy Murray’s Quest to Win 2016 World Tour Finals

Andy Murray has never traveled the easy road in his resilient career, and the 2016 World Tour Finals are shaping up as the greatest fight of his career as the world’s No. 1 player. Of course the Scot has not completed two weeks at the top, even if this is a longer tenure than Patrick Rafter’s one-week fling in late summer 1999.

Here is Murray after a decade chasing three contemporary legends, scrapping for success and enduring hard knocks. He looks like he’s survived ancient clan wars and exhausting journeys. He’s scruffy and he scowls, but his fierce eyes fire back at opponents like a two-handed scorcher down the line. Time and again, he runs down would-be winners with attrition as much as with creative turnabouts.

Just once, it should be easy for Andy. Couldn’t the tennis gods part aside his competitors and let him roar through the weekend with a dominating statement to back his No. 1 ascension? Shouldn’t the Scottish warrior be allowed to claim the year-end spoils and bask in the brief ATP offseason before the Australian summer heats up the bottom of the planet?

Not a chance. It would be easier for Murray to blot out the sun than turn aside his assailants. As if by fate, Murray will need to protect his brand-new ranking by beating back the next three ranked challengers in ascending order. He will need to survive baseline bashing from Stan Wawrinka (Mission completed), return missiles slammed by Milos Raonic in the semifinals and face up to the likely prospect of defeating deposed Novak Djokovic in the final.

There’s pressure, and there’s the tennis reality of being Andy Murray.

Just be Perfect, Andy

Try to understand just how remarkable and resilient Murray has been since …

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