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Murray Faces Isner In Paris Final

  • Posted: Nov 06, 2016

Murray Faces Isner In Paris Final

Nov052016

First match for Brit as World No. 1

Watch Paris singles final live on TennisTV.com (2pm GMT, 9am ET)

FINAL PREVIEW: The BNP Paribas Masters championship on Sunday features the hottest player on the ATP World Tour and the new No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Andy Murray, against unseeded John Isner, who is trying to capture the biggest ATP World Tour title of his career.

Murray has won the seven previous meetings (18-3 in sets), including just over a week ago in the quarter-finals of Vienna where the British superstar won 61 63 en route to the title. They also met on May 29 at Roland Garros with Murray winning the 4R encounter 76 64 63.

Murray is the 26th player in the history of the Emirates ATP Rankings (since Aug. 23, 1973) to hold the coveted No. 1 ranking. By reaching the final, the 29-year-old Briton surpassed Novak Djokovic and ended the Serb’s streak of 122 consecutive weeks at No. 1 (since July 7, 2014). Murray is five points ahead of Djokovic (see pg. 2) and he

will pick up an additional 400 points if he wins his eighth title of the season. Murray enters on an 18-match winning streak and in his ATP World Tour-best 12th final in 2016 (7-4). Since May he has compiled a 59-5 match record, reaching 11 finals in 12 tournaments (winning seven titles). Murray is attempting to win a personal-best third ATP Masters 1000 title of the season and 14th in his career (13-7 record). This would be his seventh different ATP Masters 1000 title in his career. He is also trying to become the third British player to win the BNP Paribas Masters title, joining Tim Henman (2003) and Greg Rusedski (1998).

Isner will finish as the top American for the fifth straight year and in the Top 20 for a seventh consecutive season.  The 31-year-old American will move to No. 19 by reaching the final and to No. 15 if he wins his first ATP Masters 1000 title. He is also trying to extend his ATP World Tour title streak to seven years in a row. Isner is 10-11 in ATP World Tour finals and eight of his titles have come in the U.S. (other two in Auckland). This is his second career European final (2010 Belgrade, l. to Querrey). Isner is 1-6 in finals against Top 10 opponents (d. No. 7 Berdych in 2012 Winston-Salem). His previous ATP Masters 1000 finals came at 2012 Indian Wells (l. to Federer) and 2013 Cincinnati (l. to Nadal). The last American to earn an ATP Masters 1000 singles title was Andy Roddick in Miami in 2010 (d. Berdych). Isner is the first American to reach the final in Bercy since Andre Agassi won the title in 1999 (d. Safin). Isner, who leads the tournament with 88 aces, will finish as the Infosys ATP Scores & Stats aces leader this season for the fourth time in his career, the first since 2013. He has 1,141 aces, ahead of Ivo Karlovic (1,131 aces). 

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Ball Kids Enjoy Special Moment With New No. 1

  • Posted: Nov 06, 2016

Ball Kids Enjoy Special Moment With New No. 1

Nov052016

Andy Murray gives back at BNP Paribas Masters

On Saturday, Andy Murray joined an exclusive club in becoming the 26th player to ascend to No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. While the 29-year-old Scot was elated, fans at the BNP Paribas Masters were left without a second semi-final after Milos Raonic was forced to withdraw due to a right leg injury.

Enter the new No. 1 to save the day. After speaking to the packed crowd at the AccorHotels Arena, Murray gave three ball kids a moment they will never forget, stepping on the court for a 10-point tie-break with the trio.

Murray will face John Isner for his first Paris title on Sunday. Appearing in his 64th tour-level final, he is vying for a 43rd crown and 14th at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 level.

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Tennis World Reacts To Murray's Rise To No. 1

  • Posted: Nov 05, 2016

Tennis World Reacts To Murray's Rise To No. 1

Nov052016

Players, media and fans congratulate new World No. 1

After Andy Murray reached the pinnacle of the Emirates ATP Rankings for the first time on Saturday, the tennis world came together to congratulate the Brit on social media.

British Davis Cup captain Leon Smith tweeted:

Former No. 1 Boris Becker and current coach of Novak Djokovic said:

Magnus Norman, who ranked as high as No. 2 and is currently coaching Stan Wawrinka, tweeted:

Current and former ATP World Stars sent their best to the new No. 1:

Members of the media reflected on the enormity of Murray’s achievement:

Fans expressed their joy on social media as well, making Andy Murray a trending topic:

Murray received kudos from fans on Facebook as well:

fb

British band Coldplay paid tribute to their favourite ATP World Tour player:

Last but not least, from Andy’s No. 1 fan:

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Andy Murray becomes world number one after Raonic withdraws from Paris Masters

  • Posted: Nov 05, 2016

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.

‘I had trouble getting out of bed’

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.”

The stats behind Murray’s rise to number one

  • He is the 26th man to hold the top spot since computerised rankings began in 1973.
  • A player’s ranking is determined by his best 18 tournament results over the preceding 52 weeks.
  • Murray is the second-oldest player to debut at number one behind John Newcombe, who was 30 years and 11 days old when he achieved the feat in 1974.
  • Murray holds the record for the longest time between first becoming number two and becoming number one – seven years and over two months.
  • His seven stints at number two are tied with Mats Wilander and Stefan Edberg for the longest in the ATP’s database of week-by-week records, which goes back to June 1984.
  • Seven players since June 1984 have never become number one after becoming number two: Michael Stich, Goran Ivanisevic, Michael Chang, Petr Korda, Alex Corretja, Magnus Norman and Tommy Haas.

Analysis

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.

A landmark 12 months for Murray

  • November 2015: Helps Great Britain win the Davis Cup team event for the first time
  • December 2015: Voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year for the second time
  • February 2016: Welcomes first child as wife Kim gives birth to daughter Sophia
  • June 2016: Becomes Wimbledon champion for the second time
  • August 2016: Defends Olympic singles title in Rio
  • November 2016: Replaces Novak Djokovic as world number one

Reaction

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.”

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Johanna Konta loses to Ukraine's Elina Svitolina in the WTA Elite Trophy semi-finals

  • Posted: Nov 05, 2016

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.

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