NOT IN MY HANDS
with 1,500 ranking points. It would appear that all Murray has to do is keep on winning and the No 1 ranking is his.
But that would be to discount Djokovic and what he still has to offer – and no one, particularly Murray, is daft enough to do that.
The Serb was plagued by injury problems in the summer – first it was his wrist and then his shoulder – but it is his mental state that is the main cause for concern. He had pinned so much on winning the French Open to complete his career Grand Slam and hold all four major trophies at once that he appeared to run out of mental puff and motivation once his goal was achieved.
Last week in Shanghai his emotions were raw and plain to see: he trashed his rackets, he ripped his shirt in frustration and he took on Carlos Bernardes, the chair umpire, as he lost to Bautista Agut in the semi-finals.
ANDY MURRAY
In the previous round, he had tried a different tack – he was humming a tune to himself to calm his temper as he made a meal of getting past Mischa Zverev. But whatever he tried, he still looked out of sorts and miserable as sin to be back on court.
“There are definitely things that I need to regain kind of from the emotional/mental point of view,” Djokovic said after losing to Bautista Agut. “It’s a transition somewhere in between maybe just exhausted by the amount of matches I have had in the last 15 to 20 months. So maybe all in all that’s the cause of me feeling this way.
“But I had to experience sooner or later this. I knew I could not go on playing on highest level for so many years all the time, you know, but it’s good to experience this so I can hopefully get better in the period to come.”
That period will soon be upon Djokovic and it is one where he usually mops up the trophies. He has won the last four ATP Finals in London and the last three Paris Indoor titles – this is his happiest hunting ground.
As a result, Murray is not too concerned about claiming the No 1 spot this year; he knows his biggest chance will come in the first quarter of next season. Djokovic has the Australian Open to defend plus the titles in Doha, Indian Wells and Miami to protect.
Murray, on the other hand, took February off this year as he celebrated the arrival of his daughter Sophia, and then took another six weeks to get back to his best once he returned to the tour. Murray, then, can only make progress next year while the pressure will mount on Djokovic as he tries to keep his oldest rival at arm’s length.
Toppling Djokovic may not be at the top of Murray’s list of things to do this year but he knows that it is within his reach – and sooner rather than later. And if Djokovic cannot rouse himself from his current torpor and Murray continues to play as he has in China, then tennis may be saluting a new world No 1 come Christmas. 0 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark on her way to beating France’s Kristina Mladenovic in three sets to take the title.
“Mygoalisnottotry and reach No 1 this year. I’d have to win pretty much every match between now and the end of the year. And Novak would have to win hardly any. So it’s not in my hands”