By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, November 20, 2016
Andy Murray dethroned Novak Djokovic, 6-3, 6-4, scoring his 24th straight win and capturing the World Tour Finals title and year-end world No. 1 ranking.
Photo credit: Ashley Western/CameraSport
It began as compelling history: Two rivals facing off in one match with world No. 1 ranking on the line.
Andy Murray transformed it into a house party.
Watch: Murray Saves Match Point Edges Raonic in Epic Thriller
The 29-year-old Murray spent a tennis lifetime chasing Novak Djokovic.
Today, he surpassed him and brought a packed O2 Arena along for a memorable ride.
Playing with calm and clarity, Murray used a five-game surge to dethrone the four-time defending champion, 6-3, 6-4, capturing his first ATP World Tour Finals championship and securing his spot in history as the year-end world No. 1.
Murray scored his 24th consecutive victory streaking into history as the 17th man to attain the year-end world No. 1 ranking and first Briton to do it in his adopted hometown of London.
A year after Murray and brother Jamie Murray led Great Britain to the Davis Cup championship, the brothers are reunited at the peak of their profession: Andy is singles world No. 1, while Jamie and Bruno Soares are the doubles year-end No. 1 team.
In a season of landmark firsts—Murray became a first-time father, reached his first Roland Garros final and became the first man to successfully defend the Olympic gold medal— the feeling of finishing first is second to none.
"It means a lot obviously," Murray told his former coach and ESPN analyst Brad Gilbert afterward. "It's something I never expected to do. I've never been close to doing it before and then it happened."
Success breeds success: Murray claimed his fifth consecutive championship, ninth title of the season and 44th career championship.
"These last four or five months, I haven't lost any matches," Murray said. "I kept getting momentum, was getting closer and it was gave me huge motivation toward the end of the year when I was getting tired. So I was really focused on my schedule and I made sure to get the appropriate rest and breaks after tournaments....It happened a lot sooner than I expected."
Playing for his fifth straight World Tour Finals title and third consecutive year-end No. 1, Djokovic slumped in a mid-match malaise. The second seed lost seven of eight games before fighting back from 1-4 down to close to 4-5 in the second set.
Ultimately, Murray out-hit, out-hustled and out-fought his former junior rival.
Essentially, Murray controlled the center of the court beating Djokovic at the same game he displayed to win Roland Garros, complete the Novak Slam and join Don Budge and Rod Laver as the third man to hold all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously.
"Today, both Andy and I were part of history," said Djokovic, who had won 22 of his last 23 World Tour Finals matches. "It was an honor to be on the court and be part of the big occasion. Andy is definitely number one in the world. He's the best player. He deserved to win. He played better tennis in the decisive moments."
Fresh off the longest three-setter of the season in which he saved a match point, how would Murray's body recover from the grueling three hour, 38-minute semifinal victory over Milos Raonic?
Lingering lethargy forced Murray to keep calm and limit his cranky outbursts.
"I felt calm today and I also was quite aware that I was gonna have to conserve my energy," Murray said. "After a match like yesterday, I was tired today. Maybe it appeared that I wasn't, but I was tired. I knew was just going to have to keep focused on every point, not waste any energy shouting or screaming and try to be positive throughout the match. And it worked. So maybe we'll try to do that a bit more next year."
A relaxed Djokovic hit six straight first serves stamping successive love holds.
Turbulence struck in the sixth game. Djokovic drew netted errors denying two break points and overcame a horrid shanked smash navigating a dangerous hold for 3-all.
In losing five of his last six matches with the second seed, Murray often lost ground in the battle of court positioning, was beaten on the mid-court forehand and victimized on his own second serve.
Not today.
A fluid Murray began breaking open neutral rallies using the slice backhand which slithered low on the blue court and curling his crosscourt forehand. Djokovic's two-handed backhand is his signature shot, but he was often off-balance and lunging for the ball scrawling errors on that wing.
A cluster of three errors put Djokovic in another break-point deficit. Patiently teasing the Serbian with the slice backhand, Murray stepped in and spanked a short-angle inside-out forehand then charged forward, drawing the error to break for 5-3.
Digging in to win a 24-shot rally, Murray continued to target the Djokovic backhand drawing three straight backhand errors to serve out the set at 15.
A reeling Djokovic wasn't striking the ball as cleanly or thinking as clearly as Murray.
Still, the four-time defending champion staved off three break points to open the second set. Djokovic couldn't sustain the depth of his drives, however, and when he netted a backhand Murray had his second straight break.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist breezed through his fifth straight game stretching the lead to 2-0 and sending a buzz of through the crowd.
Anticipation and accuracy enabled Murray to extend the lead. Blistering a running backhand winner crosscourt, Murray gained triple break point in the fifth game. Djokovic's normally rock-solid backhand betrayed him again sailing long as Murray broke again for 4-1. By then the Wimbledon winner had won seven of the last eight games.
Djokovic wasn't done.
When a jittery Murray double faulted up 30-15, Djokovic answered winning 11 of the next 13 points cutting the gap to 4-5.
"I wasn't able to come back," Djokovic said. "I started playing a bit better toward the end of the match, but it was a bit to late. I congratulate Andy and his team."
Closure didn't come easily. Murray thumped his third ace for 30-0. Djokovic swatted a smash to save the first championship point then smacked an inside-out forehand to erase a second championship point.
On the third championship point, the Serbian's return sailed long. Murray flung his racquet aside and stared up at the ceiling as British fans erupted in an extended ovation while David Bowie's "Heroes" blared over the O2 Arena sound system.
Djokovic and Murray were born a week apart, grew into junior rivals and have shared the court as practice partners. The Serbian showed no benevolence winning 13 of their last 14 hard-court matches to seize a 24-10 lead in their rivalry. Djokovic displayed his class giving Murray a warm embrace at net and praising the former perennial No. 2 as a worthy year-end No. 1.
"Maybe it's just the fact I won a lot of matches recently," Murray told afterward. "I was able to stay calm enough at the end. Having won all those matches gives you confidence that you're able to do it."