With the Wimbledon fortnight done and dusted, the two-time champion Andy Murray now has a new goal that he has already set his sights upon. The World No. 2 has only the 12-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic ahead of him in the world tennis rankings.
Even though the Serb leads by around 5, 000 points, what should actually motivate Murray for the coveted ranking spot is his current consistency. This year especially has been one season the Scot should be extremely proud of.
Having reached finals of each of the first three Grand Slams of a year for the first time in his career, the 29-year-old has every reason to be brimming with confidence. And the three Majors have been on three different surfaces which also further underlines Murray’s versatility and his improved ability to adapt his game for each surface.
The morning after his third Grand Slam win, the British No. 1 himself admitted that the top ranking is definitely a goal for him right now. Unlike before when only the four Majors would bring out the best in him, now he is more inspired to perform all round the year. And that should be a big enough incentive if one aspires to reach the pinnacle.
“Before when I won here I was sort of motivated solely really by the Slams,” Murray said.
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“My results for the rest of the year showed that. Nowadays I feel a lot more motivated throughout the whole year and at all of the events,” he explained.
With age and experience, every player grows up. The Wimbledon champion is no exception. Today, Murray has understood that the only way to remain consistent throughout the year is to be focussed only on the event happening that particular week.
Now with the eight-time Grand Slam winner Ivan Lendl, himself a former No. 1, by his side once again, Murray really does not have to look elsewhere for sound advice.
“It’s something I spoke to my team about, something I chatted to Ivan about. I would love to get to No. 1, for sure, and the way to do that is to show up every week and be focused on that event.
“Sometimes, maybe a couple of weeks before the US Open, my mind was already in New York. I wasn’t thinking about that week in Cincinnati or something like that. I was distracted by the major event that was coming up because that was what really motivated me.
“Now I feel quite different and No. 1 is definitely a goal.”
But the Dunblane native also knows that it is no mean feat to snatch the numero uno position from the planet’s best player, Novak Djokovic, who won four Slams in a row from last year’s Wimbledon till this year’s French Open. Murray acknowledged that one bad third-round loss at Wimbledon does not diminish what the Serb has achieved in the past 18 months. And if he wants to usurp Djokovic, he will have to do much better.
“It is possible. But I think Novak is still clearly No. 1 in the world right now, he is not just going to go away because he has had one bad tournament,” the second-ranked player pointed out.
“You can’t forget what he has done in the past 18 months or so – it has been incredible – so this has been a great tournament for me but if I want to win a few Slams over the next few years I am going to have to get better,” Murray stressed.
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