Jamie Murray targets number one spot
Jamie Murray has set his sights on topping the world doubles rankings after partnering Bruno Soares to the Australian Open doubles title.
Murray, who helped Britain win the Davis Cup in November, is ranked second, behind Brazil’s Marcelo Melo.
“The Davis Cup last year gave me a lot of trust in myself, confidence in my game,” said the Scot, 29.
“I got to number two so why not get to number one? It’s one final step to try to get to number one.”
Murray became the first Briton to win the Australian Open men’s doubles title in 82 years when he and Soares, 33, beat Daniel Nestor and Radek Stepanek 2-6 6-4 7-5 in Saturday’s final.
The Brazilian only teamed up with Murray in January, and the man from Dunblane has been pleasantly surprised how quickly their partnership has taken off.
“It was only our third tournament together so I guess it was unexpected that it clicked so fast but it’s been brilliant,” Murray said.
“Obviously you go in with the best intentions. You want great things to happen but it can take time or sometimes it doesn’t happen at all.
“We played our first match in Doha at the start of the year and we felt really good on court with each other. We understood what each other was trying to do on the court.”
Brother Andy Murray lost his fifth Australian Open singles final against Novak Djokovic in straight sets on Sunday.
However, the elder Murray believes his younger brother’s exploits in recent years – which include two Grand Slam titles and an Olympic gold medal – have driven him to push his own career to greater heights.
“Seeing how hard Andy has worked to get to where he is in the game and all the successes that he had, that motivated me and inspired me to work hard and dedicate myself further to my sport,” added 2007 mixed doubles champion Murray.
“I think the last 18 months or so, that has really started to pay dividends. Being brothers as well, you want the best for each other but there’s still a part of you that wants to be doing the same stuff he’s doing.
“I’m watching him on TV or live at tournaments playing in semi-finals [and] finals of these amazing events and I wanted to be parted of that too.”