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ANDY MURRAY FINISHES 2016 RANKED NO. 1

11/22/2016

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This Week In Tennis
​Vol. 46

Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic entered the ATP World Tour Finals in London with the #1 ranking at stake for the two runaway best players in men's tennis this season. Murray, ranked #1 for the first time in his career two weeks ago, continued his blitzing form since the U.S. Open, winning his fifth consecutive tournament to secure the year-end top ranking. Murray finishes 630 points clear of Djokovic at #2 and a whopping 6,960 points ahead of Milos Raonic at world #3.

#ThisWeekInTennis recaps the previous week's tennis action through news reports, player tweets, press snippets, tennis writing, rankings, and podcasts.
Picture
Photo: Getty Images

RUNDOWN
​
  • Andy Murray finished his 2016 campaign in style, capturing the ATP World Tour Finals to secure the year-end number one ranking. The win capped a stellar second half of the season for Murray, winning Wimbledon, Olympic gold, Beijing, Shanghai, Vienna, Paris, and now London. 
  • Novak Djokovic showed glimpses of his 2016 best form at the ATP World Tour Finals but was unable to clinch the year-end #1 ranking, losing in straight sets to Andy Murray in the final. 
  • Milos Raonic finsihes 2016 ranked world #3. The Wimbledon finalist lost a three-and-a-half hour semifinal to Andy Murray and also took Novak Djokovic to two tiebreaks in round robin play.
  • Year-end top 10: 1) Murray 2) Djokovic 3) Raonic 4) Wawrinka 5) Nishikori 6) Cilic 7) Monfils 8) Thiem 9) Nadal 10) Berdych. 
  • Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares finish the year as the top ranked doubles team on the ATP Tour. 
  • Henri Kontinen and John Peers captured the year-end doubles crown at the ATP World Tour Finals. 
  • Roberta Vinci and Francesca Schiavone both confirmed they will continue to play on the WTA Tour in 2017.
  • Venus & Serena Williams had courts in Compton, California dedicated in their honour. The sisters also announced the Yetunde Price Resource Center. 
  • ​Angelique Kerber celebrated her career-best season by having lunch with U.S. President, Barack Obama.
  • Ekaterina Alexandrova beat Caroline Garcia to win the Limoges title.
  • The ATP Tour announced a ‘Next Gen’ finals for 21-and-under players beginning in 2017.
  • After the best season of her career, Karolina Pliskova splits with coach Jiri Vanek.
  • Amelie Mauresmo steps down as France's Fed Cup captain, is pregnant with second child.
  • ​The Czech women won the Fed Cup tournament for the fifth time in six years and third consecutive year.
  • ​The final tennis event of the season is on deck as Argentina battles Croatia for the Davis Cup title.

PRESS
Q. You mentioned the other day you can only beat the players you're drawn against. Does it give you particular satisfaction to have clinched the year-end world No. 1 position having beaten the guy who has been the most successful player in the game over the last five years?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't know if 'satisfaction' is the right word. I mean, you know, it was obviously a big, big match against someone who I've played so many big matches against in my career. That would be my main rival really throughout my career.
We played in all of the slam finals, Olympics, obviously here now, and a match to finish the year No. 1. We played in loads of Masters Series finals, as well, and are one week apart in age.
It was obviously a big match, a very important win for me. 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.
​

Q. Andy hasn't had to go through Novak really. Is that sort of the thing that's missing for you in his chase for No. 1? He's won a lot of these tournaments, but he hasn't played Novak.
MILOS RAONIC: Nothing's missing in that storyline. Tennis ranking is a game of checks and balances. Who's going to finish No. 1 is who does the best that year. Doesn't matter whether they played or not.
Yes, you could take that away from Andy in a way. Then you could also say it's sort of Novak's responsibility to get to that point because Andy was there every single week.
Regardless or not if they play tomorrow, if not obviously Andy's still the best player in the world of 2016. There's no question about it.

Q. John, I guess you don't have any regrets about splitting with Jamie now?
JOHN PEERS: No, we ended up on very good terms, parted ways, gave each other a good opportunity to move on and build a good base for the following year. We've both had a good year in our separate partnerships.
I have been thankful with Henri, we've stuck together and worked really hard all year. And the benefits are starting to pay off at the back end of this year.

Q. I know you take nothing for granted in this sport, but were you at least slightly surprised at Andy's resilience after the tough week he had?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Not too much. I expected him to play on a high level. As I said yesterday after my semifinals, I didn't expect him to be too tired.
But I just played very poorly, made a lot of unforced errors from the backhand side. It just wasn't my day. On the other hand, credit to Andy for being mentally tough and playing the right shots, making me play extra shots in every rally. He definitely deserved to win.


​Q. We've talked about the No. 1 ranking. Having got that yesterday, now the year is over, can you actually start to look back on it historically, highlights, the things that you really did well?
JAMIE MURRAY: Well, yeah, I mean, winning, obviously the tournaments we won were highlights for us. To win in Australia and the US Open were huge achievements. We both came into the partnership not having won a Grand Slam, both being in finals before. And to get two in the first year is a great achievement.
I think, yeah, we can be really proud of our efforts this year. It's not easy to make a partnership work, I think. We did a great job. I think we got on great the whole time. We worked hard for each other, tried to improve ourselves and as a team.
I think we got lots to look forward to next year.


Q. I think you said 'big heart' to your team as you finished. You must have been proud of the way you handled the mental seesawing of the match.
ANDY MURRAY: Well, I fought really hard today, yeah. I fought hard. I fought very hard this week. I have also the last few months, too.
It would have been easy today when I was behind to have gone away a little bit, but I didn't. I fought hard. Even after serving for the match twice, having a bunch of match points in the tiebreak, still stayed tough, chased balls down, fought as best as I could. It was enough to get me the win.
Yeah, I was happy with that.



​For more press transcripts from the ATP World Tour Finals click HERE

A dream come true!! What an honour to meet President Obama for lunch today. pic.twitter.com/0AU6HUeuqV

— Angelique Kerber (@AngeliqueKerber) November 17, 2016

This is where we spent countless hours practicing growing up! pic.twitter.com/MSnSqTBPW6

— Venus Williams (@Venuseswilliams) November 12, 2016

□□❤️ pic.twitter.com/Xb3Rxj2BOZ

— Karolina Pliskova (@KaPliskova) November 14, 2016

Epic start to the year by @DjokerNole.
Epic end to the year by @andy_murray, ending #1 □ Congrats guys □

— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) November 20, 2016

What a year @andy_murray!!!! So so happy for you and your team! Year end world #1 □□□□

— Johanna Konta (@JoKonta91) November 20, 2016

□□□

— Jamie Murray (@jamie_murray) November 20, 2016

The way they were....... pic.twitter.com/oSJVs5fEC9

— judy murray (@JudyMurray) November 20, 2016

Congrats @andy_murray #1!! Amazing season! Well deserved !! See you next year ! □□□□□□□ pic.twitter.com/VeK2ayT6sz

— Stanislas Wawrinka (@stanwawrinka) November 21, 2016

RANKINGS WATCH


  • ​ATP: Raonic (+1 to #3), Wawrinka (-1 to #4), Cilic (+1 to #6), Nadal (-1 to #9), Schwartzman (+6 to #52), Monaco (+3 to #65), Pella (-13 to #72), Brown (-7 to #74), Fritz (-7 to #77), Cervantes (-8 to #86), Dutra Silva (+4 to #99)

  • ​WTA​​:​ Babos (-2 to #28), Doi (-2 to #40), Cornet(+4 to #41), Flipkens (-3 to #65), Nara (-3 to #78), Peng (+19 to #84), Rodina (+13 to #91), Hibino (-10 to #96), Vekic (+1 to #100), Schiavone (-2 to #102), Alexandrova (+25 to #108)

ON THE WEB

Andy Murray Beat Novak Djokovic and Clinched #1 in True Big-Four Style
​
How Andy Murray has changed British tennis
​
For Deaf Tennis Player, Sound Is No Barrier
​Men’s Tennis Wants to Crack Down on Tanking. But What, Exactly, Is Tanking?
​Spain's golden era is fading but Lopez stays positive
Glimpsing the Future of Men's Tennis
​From Misery Guts to Tennis Saviour: Meet the Real Andy Murray, World No.1
Andy and Jamie Murray, Once Sibling Rivals, Now Have the Same Quest
​Gardnar Mulloy, a Tennis Champion Who Later Championed Senior Tennis, Dies at 102
Murray Ends Season as Number 1, Beats Djokovic at ATP Finals

​PODCASTS

The Body Serve - ​Judy Murray’s Boys Get to No. 1
The Body Serve - TV Awards (Non-tennis)
Beyond The Baseline - USTA chairman, CEO and president Katrina Adams
Beyond The Baseline - Eugenie Bouchard talks offseason, Instagram, more
​​No Challenges Remaining - Ben and Courtney watch tennis dudes! (Periscope episode)
​No Challenges Remaining - Episode 171: Regime Change
No Challenges Remaining -  Stuffed With Gratitude
​Realz Tenis Fanz - America Goddam (Post 11/9 Elections) (Non-tennis)
​
​Tennis Connected - Previewing the 2016 ATP World Tour Finals​
​
The Tennis Podcast - Murray Conquers Nemesis Djokovic To Seal World No.1 Ranking For 2016
WTA Insider - Chris Evert reflects on 2016, Strycova leads the Czechs to Fed Cup glory
Break Point Podcast - ​Czechs win Fed Cup

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