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Grading Andy Murray’s 2016 Season and Looking Ahead to 2017
- Updated: January 4, 2017
Nobody will ever question Andy Murray’s resolve in becoming one of the four biggest superstars of his era. It’s just that no matter what he achieves, there will always be comparisons to his more decorated rivals. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have set legendary standards that somehow penalize the perception of the Scot, but this is changing.
In 2016, Murray won his second Wimbledon title to end a three-year drought in major tournaments. He followed up with his second Olympic gold medal in singles, and he did the impossible by tracking down Djokovic’s seemingly insurmountable rankings lead of over 8,000 points.
Most importantly, Murray’s recent run of success has redefined his career, bolstered his legacy and set him up for a furious finish to his peak years.
This is the fifth and final installment of our superstar report cards. Previously we graded Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka, Nadal and Federer.
Grade: A-
Well, here we go again. While Djokovic scored an “A” for the year on the strength of his two majors and nearly the entire year at No. 1, Murray is still kind of in his shadow with “only” the Wimbledon title and grabbing that No. 1 ranking the last two weeks of the season.
No respect for Murray?
Actually, his second-half performance was almost epic, with all nine of his titles spanning from the late clay-court season in Rome to the World Tour Finals in London. Djokovic never won as many titles during this particular stretch of the season (the Serb’s legendary 2015 season had him win seven titles from Rome to London; of course he gets the nod for winning the U.S. Open as part of his seven-title package.)
Murray’s titles streak was only blemished by losing the Western & Southern Open final to Marin Cilic (partly due to fatigue from winning the gold medal) and a regrettable, if thrilling, five-set loss to Kei Nishikori in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open.
Had Murray won the U.S. Open, his second half would have …
