Key stats as Murray becomes world number one
As Andy Murray becomes the first British singles player to top the world rankings since the current system was introduced in 1973, find out some of the numbers behind his achievement.
As Andy Murray becomes the first British singles player to top the world rankings since the current system was introduced in 1973, find out some of the numbers behind his achievement.
Britain’s Andy Murray will become the world number one for the first time after Milos Raonic withdrew from their Paris Masters semi-final.
Murray, 29, needed only to reach the final in Paris after current number one Novak Djokovic lost to Marin Cilic in Friday’s quarter-final.
But Canadian Raonic announced before Saturday’s match that he was injured.
Murray will be the first British singles player to hold top spot since computerised rankings began in 1973.
The Scot will play John Isner in Sunday’s final, after the American beat Cilic 6-4 6-3 in Saturday’s first semi-final.
Djokovic had topped the rankings for 122 weeks, and completed his career Grand Slam by beating Murray in the French Open final in June.
But Murray has reached 11 finals in his past 12 events, and has won 73 matches in the year, a personal record.
He will be officially confirmed as world number one when the revised rankings are released on Monday.
Raonic, 25, had beaten France’s 11th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2 7-6 (7-4) to set up a repeat of July’s Wimbledon final on Saturday.
However, he said that he had felt a problem in his right leg during the victory, which a scan revealed was a tear to his quad.
“Yesterday at I believe 4-2 in the first set I began feeling something in my leg – I didn’t think too much of it at the time,” he said.
“This morning I had trouble waking up and getting out of bed.
“I had some tests and an MRI and they found I have a grade one tear in the right quad so I’m unfortunately not able to compete.”
Russell Fuller, BBC tennis correspondent:
Raonic had ankle problems coming into this week. He has qualified for the World Tour Finals in London. He obviously wants to rest and protect that injury.
There’s a huge sense of anti-climax, something you don’t ever associate with Andy Murray. Think of the drama involved when he won Wimbledon for the first time, for that Davis Cup match and that gold medal match a few months ago. Without having to hit a ball he is assured of being at least five points ahead of Novak Djokovic on Monday. Despite the anti-climactic nature it is a magnificent achievement.
He has come from so far back to do this. He was over 8,000 points behind Djokovic when the French Open finished in June. That is a mammoth number of points. He’s been on an incredible run since then. He can now call himself, just like his brother Jamie, a world number one.
Murray’s former coach Miles Maclagan: “He deserves to be among the likes of Becker, McEnroe, people who have who won five or six Slams and have been number one.
“He’s got the three Slams at the moment but the two Olympics and the Davis Cup cement his place. He belongs among those greats.”
Top seed Johanna Konta lost 2-6 6-1 6-4 to Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina in the semi-finals of the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai, China.
The Briton took the first set comfortably, but lost the initiative in the second and then let a lead slip in the deciding set.
Konta, 25, looked increasingly weary in the final event of the WTA Tour season.
Svitolina will now face Czech Republic’s Petra Kvitova, who beat Chinese wild card Zhang Shuai 6-2 6-2.
The tournament features the leading 12 players who did not qualify for last week’s WTA Finals in Singapore.
Konta appeared to be cruising to the final, with the Ukrainian having no answer to the power and accuracy of her serve and ground strokes in the opening set.
The world number 10 broke her 22-year-old opponent in the third and seventh games to take it in just 26 minutes.
Svitolina took a bathroom break at the end of the set and the interruption appeared to affect Konta’s rhythm.
After a string of unforced errors, the Briton – under pressure for the first time in the tournament – soon trailed 5-0 in the second.
The momentum of the match had swung round, and though Konta briefly rallied in the third set to open up a 3-1 lead, she couldn’t sustain the recovery and her serve was picked apart again with decisive back-to-back breaks.
SEMI-FINAL PREVIEW: There is a lot at stake in the semi-finals on Saturday at the BNP Paribas Masters as all four players are trying to win their first title in Bercy. The foursome of Andy Murray, Milos Raonic, Marin Cilic and John Isner also have an opportunity to improve their Emirates ATP Ranking.
While the eight-player singles field for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals is set, three of the semi-finalists coming to London are looking to leave Paris with their career-best Emirates ATP Ranking.
Murray brings an 8-3 career record against Raonic (winning last seven meetings) and if extends his winning streak to 19 consecutive matches, he’ll become No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings for the first time in his career.The 29-year-old Briton has spent 76 weeks at the No. 2 spot and he is looking to become the second-oldest player (John Newcombe, 30, on June 3, 1974) to debut at No. 1. Should Murray reach No. 1, he’ll own the ATP World Tour record for most time between becoming No. 2 and No. 1, having debuted at No. 2 on 17 August, 2009. Murray comes into play on Saturday trailing No. 1 Novak Djokovic by 235 points and if the Scot advances to the final, he will pick up 240 points and move five points ahead of the Belgrade native (see below). Murray would become the first British man and 26th player in the history of the Emirates ATP Rankings (since Aug. 23, 1973) to hold No. 1. It would also end Djokovic’s streak of 122 consecutive weeks (223 overall) at No. 1 (since July 7, 2014).
If Raonic defeats Murray for the first time since 2014 ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells, (4R), he will move from No. 4 to a career-high No. 3 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, moving ahead of Stan Wawrinka. Raonic reached the final in Bercy two years ago (l. to Djokovic). The 25-year-old Canadian is trying to reach his fourth career ATP World Tour final, second this season (Indian Wells) and capture his first Masters 1000 crown.
In the other semi-final, Cilic tries to remain unbeaten (6-0) against Isner, who is trying to finish as the top American for the fifth straight year and in the Top 20 for a seventh consecutive season. To do that, the 31-year-old American must reach his third career ATP Masters 1000 final.(2012 Indian Wells, 2013 Cincinnati). Isner is also nine aces away from finishing as the ATP World Tour aces leader this year. Ivo Karlovic leads with 1,131 aces followed by Isner (1,123), who has hit a tournament-high 70 this week. Cilic, who beat Djokovic on Friday for the first time in 15 meetings, has improved to a career-high No. 7 with his first semi-final in Paris. If Cilic reaches the final, he will move up to No. 6.
Draw to be streamed live Monday
The eight-player singles field for the 2016 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals is set. Following results on Thursday at the BNP Paribas Masters, Dominic Thiem clinches the final spot at the prestigious season-ending tournament, to be held from 13-20 November at The O2 in London.
The 23-year-old Thiem will make his debut at The O2 and is the first Austrian singles player to qualify for the event since former World No. 1 Thomas Muster in 1997.
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Eight different countries will be represented as Thiem joins four-time defending champion and 2008 titlist Novak Djokovic of Serbia, Andy Murray of Great Britain, Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland, Kei Nishikori of Japan, Milos Raonic of Canada, fellow debutant Gael Monfils of France and Marin Cilic of Croatia.
“I’m so happy to have made it to London, also thanks to Andy and Milos who helped me out,” said Thiem. “It’s been a dream since my childhood to qualify for the ATP Finals. In the past two years it became a goal and to achieve it at such a young age it is amazing, 20 years after the only other Austrian player. It’s going to be a great experience to compete against the best players in the world. I look forward to spending a week with them in London.”
Thiem enjoyed an incredible first six months of the season, winning four ATP World Tour titles on three different surfaces: on clay at the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires (d. Almagro) and the Open de Nice Cote d’Azur (d. Zverev); on hard court at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel (d. Tomic); and on grass at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart (d. Kohlschreiber).
He broke into the Top 10 of the Emirates ATP Rankings after reaching his first Grand Slam semi-final at Roland Garros (l. to Djokovic) and also finished runner-up at the BMW Open by FWU AG in Munich (l. to Kohlschreiber) and the Moselle Open in Metz (l. to Pouille) – where he reached his first indoor final.
The eight-team doubles field was also finalised on Thursday, with Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi set to make their team debut at The O2 after clinching the eighth spot. They will join Jamie Murray/Bruno Soares, Pierre-Hugues Herbert/Nicolas Mahut, Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan, Feliciano Lopez/Marc Lopez, Ivan Dodig/Marcelo Melo, Raven Klaasen/Rajeev Ram and Henri Kontinen/John Peers.
ATP Executive Chairman & President, Chris Kermode, said, “We look forward to welcoming the best eight qualified singles players and doubles teams of the year back to The O2 for another spectacular season-ending tournament. These players have all had outstanding seasons and fully deserve their place at our season finale. And with the year-end No.1 ranking still on the line in both singles and doubles, the stakes are as high as ever ahead of this year’s event.”
2016 DRAW CEREMONY
The draw for the 2016 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals will be made on Monday, 7 November, at 3pm GMT. The draw will be hosted by TV presenter, Rob Curling, and will be streamed live through ATPWorldTour.com. Fans will be able to watch online and hear from the players joining via skype.
2016 GROUP NAMES
The Finals Club, an initiative launched by the ATP in 2015 as a way of celebrating the past champions and heritage of the season-ending tournament since its inception in 1970, will this year honour players from the 1980s. As such, the group names for singles and doubles will honour players who enjoyed remarkable success at the season finale during that decade:
In singles
– Group A will be named in honour of John McEnroe, the 1978, 1983-84 winner
– Group B will be named in honour of Ivan Lendl, who won five titles from nine straight finals (1980-1988)
In doubles:
– Group A will be named in honour of Fleming/McEnroe, who won seven straight titles (1978-84)
– Group B will be named in honour of Edberg/Jarryd, who won the 1985-86 titles
The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals has welcomed more than 1.8 million fans to The O2 arena over the past seven years, establishing itself as the biggest indoor tennis tournament in the world since moving to London in 2009. A record 102 million broadcast viewers also tuned in across the eight days of competition in 2015. The ATP announced last year that the event would remain at The O2 through to 2018. Tickets can be purchased at: www.BarclaysATPWorldTourFinals.com.