On top of the world: Re-living Murray’s unforgettable 2016 season
Even for a player who had already won 35 tour-level titles, including two Grand Slams, 11 ATP Masters 1000 crowns, and an Olympic gold medal, 2016 was something special for Andy Murray. After years of battling Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic at the top of the men’s game, the Briton elevated his level to eclipse them all.
Murray racked up a 78-9 record en route to nine tour-level titles in 2016, which he finished by becoming ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF in the most spectacular way. Ahead of the China Open in Beijing in October that year, World No. 2 Murray had trailed No. 1 Djokovic by 4,695 points in the PIF ATP Rankings. What followed was one of the most memorable season climaxes in ATP Tour history.
To celebrate the end of Murray’s glittering career, ATPTour.com looks back on Murray’s unforgettable 2016 season.
[ATP APP] OCTOBER – Murray On A Mission
It was two weeks and 10 straight-sets Murray wins in China that injected late-season intrigue into the 2016 race to become ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF. The 29-year-old had put up a sustained bid to haul in Djokovic and become World No. 1 for the first time by winning 54 of his first 61 tour-level matches of the year, but he was in danger of losing momentum after a quarter-final defeat to Kei Nishikori at the US Open was followed by a Davis Cup loss to Juan Martin del Potro.
Yet back-to-back defeats against a pair of old rivals was to prove a mere blip for the in-form Murray. He took his tally to six titles for the season by claiming the trophy in Beijing and then another at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Shanghai, victories that reduced the gap between World No. 1 Djokovic and Murray from 4,695 to 2,415 points. The Scot was nonetheless keen to dampen any talk of him hitting World No. 1 before the year was done.
“Although points-wise it’s possible to do it this year, Novak is going to win a lot of matches between now and the end of the year. I’m aware of that, and I expect that to happen,” said Murray after defeating Roberto Bautista Agut in the Shanghai final. “There is more chance to do it next year, I think.”
However, Murray continued to turn the scenario on its head as the late-season wins kept coming. He headed to Vienna to start his European indoor season and promptly won his seventh title of the year. Then another Masters 1000 crown, the 14th and ultimately final one of his career, at the Rolex Paris Masters. Djokovic had fallen in the quarter-finals in the French capital, leaving Murray to secure his remarkable rise to No. 1 for the first time by reaching the championship match.
“It’s been really, really hard to do it, been really difficult,” said Murray, when asked about finally disrupting Federer, Nadal and Djokovic’s 13-year monopoly on top spot. “Obviously, they are three of the best players that have ever played the game and some of the years that they have had in that period have been ridiculous… It’s taken a great year to get there.”
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Murray lifts his 14th and final ATP Masters 1000 crown at the 2016 Rolex Paris Masters. Miguel Medina/AFP via Getty Images
NOVEMBER – Fairytale Finish
Getting to No. 1 is a huge achievement, but ending an ATP Tour season in top spot earns a player membership of an even more exclusive club.
There was little time for Murray to celebrate becoming the world’s top player as he prepared for the 2016 Nitto ATP Finals at The O2 in London. The 29-year-old arrived on a 19-match winning streak but needed to perform well at the prestigious season finale to prevent Djokovic from an immediate return to No. 1, with the honour of finishing as the ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF on the line.
Murray completed a perfect round-robin stage in London by defeating Marin Cilic, Nishikori and Stan Wawrinka, before pulling through for a nailbiting 5-7, 7-6(5), 7-6(9) semi-final triumph against Milos Raonic to make it six victories in six Lexus ATP Head2Head clashes with the Canadian that year. With Djokovic also reaching the final, the stage was set for a winner-takes-all championship match in which both players were one win away from securing the year-end World No. 1 honour.
As he had done so often that season, Murray rose to the occasion in style. Roared on by his home fans, the Briton eased past Djokovic 6-3, 6-4 to complete a fairytale end to the year after winning 24 consecutive tour-level matches and five back-to-back titles.
“It was obviously a big match, a very important win for me,” reflected Murray, who finished 2016 with a 78-9 match record and a personal-best nine trophies for the season. “It was just a huge match to finish the year, to try and obviously finish No. 1. Obviously, this is a major event, as well, and one I’ve not done well in in the past, so it’s been a great week.”
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Murray in action during his dominant 2016 Nitto ATP Finals championship-match win. Photo Credit: Julian Finney/Getty Images
JANUARY – Uncertain Beginnings
Murray’s seismic celebrations in London were a far cry from how his year had begun.
The Scot had wrapped the 2015 season in historic fashion by leading Great Britain to its first Davis Cup title in 79 years. Starting the new year at No. 2 in the PIF ATP Rankings, the Briton picked up where he left off at his first tournament of 2016 by beating a then-18-year-old Alexander Zverev, David Ferrer and Raonic en route to his fifth Australian Open final.
Awaiting the 28-year-old in the championship match was the familiar face of World No. 1 Djokovic, who had beaten Murray in three of his past four title matches in Melbourne. Their fourth, and ultimately final, Australian Open final proved to be the most one-sided when the Serbian eased to a 6-1, 7-5, 7-6(3) triumph.
Murray experienced the joy of becoming a father for the first time when his wife Kim gave birth to their first child in early February, but what was to become the best season of his career delivered two other early on-court disappointments. The Briton went 2-2 in March after falling at the third-round stage in both Indian Wells (to Federico Delbonis) and Miami (to Grigor Dimitrov). By the time the European clay season began in April, it had been eight months since Murray had won an individual title.
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Murray stands behind champion Novak Djokovic at the 2016 Australian Open trophy ceremony. Photo Credit: Vince Caligiuri/Getty Images
APRIL – Bouncing Back On Clay
Murray demonstrated improvements in his clay-court game in 2015, when he won his first tour-level titles on the surface in Munich and Madrid (where he beat Nadal in the final at the ATP Masters 1000), respectively. Those triumphs laid the foundations for his consistently impressive 2016 outings on the surface as he went 18-3 across four of the biggest events on the calendar.
It took ‘King of Clay’ Nadal to stop Murray in the Monte-Carlo semi-finals, and the Scot earned swift revenge in front of the Spaniard’s home fans with a last-four win of his own in Madrid. His hopes of defending his title in the Spanish capital were dashed by Djokovic in three sets, but Murray again responded quickly. He charged to the title at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia without dropping a set, dispatching Djokovic 6-3, 6-3 in the final to become the first British man to win the Rome trophy in the Open Era.
“It’s mostly great players that have won this event, so I’m very proud to have my name on the trophy,” said Murray after his victory.
At Roland Garros, with Federer absent and Nadal withdrawing before the third round due to a wrist injury, the draw appeared to have opened for one of the top two seeds, Djokovic or Murray, to clinch their first title at the clay-court major. They did both reach the final, but Djokovic proved too strong and wrapped a 3–6, 6–1, 6–2, 6–4 victory.
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Andy Murray battles past Novak Djokovic in the 2016 Rome championship match. Photo Credit: Matthew Lewis/Getty Images
JUNE – Dominant Dozen On Grass
Despite falling just short of his third major title, Murray could turn his attention to the grass as the owner of a healthy 28-6 record for the year. He went on to make the momentum he had built on clay count, and in spectacular fashion, on the British grass. The World No. 2 went 12-0 across what was historically one of his favourite parts of the season to reconfirm his status as one of the elite grass-court players in the world.
Competing at the Queen’s Club as defending champion, Murray battled through a trio of three-setters from the quarter-finals onwards to lift the title. In doing so, he moved clear of former World No. 1s John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick with a record fifth title at the ATP 500. He beat his Top 10 rival Raonic, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3 in the championship match, and it was the Canadian who stood across from Murray again three weeks later in the Briton’s third Wimbledon final.
Murray, who had not dropped a set en route to the championship match aside from a five-set battle with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarter-finals, delivered a masterful returning display to blunt the big-serving Raonic and claim his second Wimbledon crown. He described a markedly different title-winning feeling to his 2013 triumph, perhaps a reflection of how confident he was in his game.
“I feel happier this time,” said Murray after his 6-4, 7-6(3), 7-6(2) victory against Raonic. “I feel more content this time. I feel like this was sort of more for myself more than anything, and my team as well. We’ve all worked really hard to help get me in this position. Last time it was just pure relief, and I didn’t really enjoy the moment as much, whereas I’m going to make sure I enjoy this one more.”
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Andy Murray drops his racquet with joy after clinching his second Wimbledon title. Photo Credit: Julian Finney/Getty Images
AUGUST – Summer Surge
Murray’s red-hot form continued long enough for him to win his second title at another prestigious event: the Olympic Games. Having won gold at London 2012, Murray became the first man to win two Olympic men’s tennis singles titles by downing Del Potro in four exhilarating sets in the Rio de Janeiro 2016 final.
“Tonight is one of the hardest matches that I’ve had to play for a big, big title,” said Murray after his 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 triumph. “I think the US Open final I played against Novak when I won my first Slam was very hard, but tonight I found really difficult.”
By next racking up four straight-sets victories to reach the championship match at the Cincinnati Open, Murray hit 50 tour-level wins for the season and extended his winning streak to 22 matches. It was the longest unbeaten run of the 29-year-old’s career up to that point.
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Andy Murray and Juan Martin del Potro after their epic final at the Rio Olympics. Photo Credit: Luis Acosta/AFP via Getty Images
Murray’s red-hot form did not stop the World No. 14 Cilic from claiming an upset to lift the Cincinnati title, and then came the Briton’s disappointments against Nishikori at the US Open and Del Potro in the Davis Cup. From there, however, Murray headed to Asia to begin what would become one of the most memorable season run-ins of all time.