Murray out to end year on high at World Tour

ANDY Murray, the first Briton to be the singles World No 1 since the creation of the ATP rankings in 1973, is hoping to finish the greatest season of his career — which has already included a Wimbledon title and an Olympic gold medal — by winning the Barclays ATP World Tour finals for the first time.

The tournament begins today at The O2 in London.

The four-time defending champion Novak Djokovic is chasing a recordequalling sixth season finale title.

Murray is looking to reach the final for the first time and is guaranteed to finish the year at the summit if he wins the title. “I still feel that my best years are ahead.”

History and precedent were against him, because only one man in the modern era — Andre Agassi — has won multiple grand slam titles after his 30th birthday. Murray turned 29 in May. Yet, from that moment in early June when he made his claim, Murray produced the most dominant sequence of his career. The statistics were extraordinary.

Going into the ATP World Tour

It’s something I never expected to do, never thought I was going to do

finals, he has lost just three matches since Roland Garros.

In a twist that no one would have predicted, he wiped out the 8 035point lead held by Djokovic at the start of the grass-court season, and this month moved to No 1 in the ATP rankings.

For a man who had spent the last decade in the slipstream of three even more successful players — in Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic — this was a gratifying and long-awaited moment.

“It’s something I never expected to do, never thought I was going to do,” he said. “When you’re behind the guys that I was behind, it’s difficult to keep believing, keep working to try to get there. I think that’s the most satisfying thing, because of how good the guys around me have been.”

Murray has many strengths as a player but this constant thirst for improvement, even at this mature stage of his career, is a trademark. His mastery of tactics applies not only to patterns of play, but to the way he has constructed his own career.

Perhaps this will be the year when he claims the giant octagonal cup — that would be a belated reward for the man whose best years could still be ahead of him. — atpwordltour.com