ATP World Tour Finals 2016: ‘Murray mania’ greets world No1’s 20th match-win in London

Precisely seven days after Andy Murray became the first Briton to reach No1 since the ATP rankings began in 1973, he will take to court for the first time as top dog.

And following perhaps his best ever season since he turned pro more than a decade ago, Murray is showing his best ever timing, too. His first tournament as No1 is at the ATP’s biggest event, the season’s finale, the World Tour Finals, in London.

He will, without doubt, enjoy a hero’s welcome after an heroic push to the top in the aftermath of becoming a father following his final finish at the Australian Open. It began with a first Rome Masters title, a first French Open final, a record fifth Queen’s title and his second Wimbledon title.

It continued onto hard courts as he became the first man to win two golds in tennis at the Olympics, and since losing his longest ever match against Juan Martin del Potro in Davis Cup, he has remained unbeaten through four titles and 19 matches.

He thus arrived in London not just as No1 but with a tour-leading eight titles and 73 match-wins.

Could he now, in front of an adoring home crowd, also end the year as No1? Well, his work was far from done. Indeed, he may have to win the magnificent trophy itself come next Sunday to ensure that, in a week’s time, he is still No1.

For his biggest and oldest rival, Novak Djokovic, who he displaced at the top of the rankings after well over two years, trails Murray by just one match-win. And the mighty Serb won his opener against Dominic Thiem, throwing down the gauntlet with steely determination.

Murray’s opening challenge—the first of three in a very tough group that also includes Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori—was Marin Cilic. And while Murray owned an 11-3 head-to-head over the tall Croat, and had beaten him in all four meetings on home soil—all their grass encounters—Cilic had won their most recent match, the final in Cincinnati.

Indeed Cilic was enjoying a surge in form himself after a knee injury blighted his clay season earlier this year. He came to London for the second time at a career-high No7, claimed his first Masters title in Cincinnati and his first ATP500 in Basel, and scored his first win at his 15th attempt over Djokovic at the Paris Masters.

His greater confidence on court, combined with increasingly aggressive play, confirmed, if nothing else, that Cilic’s new partnership with coach Jonas Bjorkman was working a treat.

But the quietly-spoken Croat highlighted another benefit to flow from their relationship:
“He is a very different personality to Goran [Ivanisevic]. Jonas is very positive and motivated. I guess that can help me to be more emotional on the court, more motivated.”

But was this rise in form for the former US Open champion enough to dominate the Briton who, in their Cincinnati meeting, was clearly exhausted from his Wimbledon and Olympic achievements?

If the crowd had anything to do with it, he had no chance, but Cilic bristled with intent and brought up a break chance in the first game. However Murray is one of the finest chasers and defenders in tennis—and was more than eager to attack, too. He survived, and then broke for a 2-0 lead.

Cilic, with his huge wingspan and combination of big forehand and sliced backhand, got a break straight back—but it was not for long. Murray broke again.

It looked, then, as though Cilic would level again, but he let a break chance go begging, and that would be his chance gone for this set. Murray was now stepping inside the court at every opportunity, and he served out the set, 6-3, after an intense and compelling 46 minutes.

The statistics were not kind, and did not convey the dramatic swings from rally to rally: Murray was credited with just two winners to 14 errors, Cilic five winners for 17 errors. The quality was higher than that.

The second set began with just as much tension as the first, both fighting to hold onto their serve. But Murray was starting to find his range, and that gave him more confidence to step in and take the ball earlier still. It forced Cilic’s hand, earned two break points, and after one Cilic ace, Murray ripped a return and followed it with a winner.

That was all he needed to take the brakes off, and Murray’s game flowed as he hit the lines, switched direction, sliced short and fired wide. A hold for 4-2 was followed by another break, a clenched fist and a clean love hold for the set, 6-2.

Cilic had not played badly—he even admitted as much himself: “I came into the match knowing we were going to have lot of rallies. Andy’s playing like that… He’s moving well, hitting well from the back.

“Just I felt he had a few more free points on his serve. I think that gave him also a little bit of room to breathe [but] I felt I could have maybe gone a little bit quicker with my bigger shots…

“Overall I played well and enjoyed the atmosphere: It was a big pleasure for me.”

Murray, naturally, could not help but agree: The noise when he arrived and when he departed was deafening. Yes, he had enjoyed being announced as No1 for the first time—though his tone was, as ever, entirely understated.

“It was a great reception obviously. A really, really good atmosphere tonight. Yeah, it was obviously nice to play in that stadium with the crowd like that.

“After a long few months, it’s nice to know that I’m going to be finishing the year playing in that sort of atmosphere. It helps you get up for the matches a bit more… Yeah, it was good.”

This first win of the week makes it 20 match-wins in a row, and keeps Murray ahead of Djokovic by that same small margin. And it seems fair to predict that, with each match he plays, the noise and the anticipation will be at fever pitch by the end of the week.