Andy Murray posed with the spoils of his own magic six-month ride. A brilliant second half of the season earned the reigning Wimbledon and Olympic champion not just the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals trophy, but also the addition of his name among just 17 to have ended a year ranked No.1.
It was a sweet triumph against his career-long rival and nemesis, Novak Djokovic. Many had predicted that Novak will spoil the party for Murray and his legion of British supporters but the O2 Arena celebrated the first British winner of the season finale and the host nation’s only No.1.
The 29-year-old pair have played better matches, and so many times, but few more significant, with Murray winning 6-3, 6-4 to narrow his career head-to-head deficit to 24-11.
“This is something I never, never expected,” Murray said.
The US Open, dual Wimbledon and two-time Olympic champion also advanced a case, argued by the likes of former soccer star Gary Lineker, that he is the greatest British sportsman of all time.
For the moment though, Murray is just happy to accept the tag of best ever UK tennis player, and in a global sense has broken the 12-year stranglehold on No.1 of some handy types in Roger Federer (five times), Djokovic (four) and Rafael Nadal (three).
