The story of Murray’s 2016

To mark his remarkable rise to the top, Sky Sports and HPE have combined to look at Andy Murray’s amazing year and how he did it.

From the courts of Dunblane to the best player on planet tennis, Murray rubber-stamped his remarkable rise with a ninth title of the season at the ATP World Tour Finals, that confirmed his position as the number one ranked player in the world.

As recently as June, when Novak Djokovic became the first man in 47 years to hold all four major titles at the same time, the Serbian’s lead appeared unassailable.

But Murray has been imperious in the months since, winning Wimbledon, Olympic gold, six other titles and losing just three matches.

He is reaping richly-deserved rewards for an outstanding end to 2016 and has set his sights of remaining at the very top of the game.

Murray has recorded a season’s best tally of 78 victories and ended the year on a 24-match winning streak.

His form over the second half of the season has strengthened claims that Murray is now the best player in the world – and he has the ranking to prove it. The new challenge is whether he can command a period of dominance and achieve the longevity that has made his rivals legends of the game.

But Murray’s story is a long one that started in the tortuous winter months of his training camp in Miami and began with another Australian Open final…

More Aussie anguish

With his wife, Kim, expecting the arrival of the couple’s first child, Murray’s 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 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. Murray rallied to set up another Grand Slam showdown with Djokovic.

The Serb claimed a fifth crown in Melbourne and a tearful Murray was left to reflect on an encouraging start, 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

Murray took an extended break to enjoy the birth of his daughter, Sophia, and he resurfaced to win 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 No 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 …

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