ANDY MURRAY screams with delight after beating John Isner in the Paris Masters final, just 24 hours after becoming the new world No 1. The rankings will today show Murray has a 405point lead over Novak Djokovic.
Afew days after Andy Murray won his first wimbledon in 2013, when the world wanted to know his name, he made a private visit back to the All england Club.
Not to relive the scene of his greatest triumph but to deliver a present to one of the lockerroom attendants, who was retiring after several decades’ service at Sw19. Murray had driven in to say goodbye and give him a signed racket that had been used in the final.
Such private acts of consideration are why the 29-year-old Scot is well liked within the parish of tennis, and why none of its inhabitants will begrudge this morning’s sight of the ATP rankings showing him as No 1.
It will be the product of a lifetime’s work, a bloody-minded refusal to yield to the challenges presented by being in the same era as several once-in-a-generation players.
The struggle has been fascinating to watch close up, as has been the transformation of Murray from the shy, coltish young prospect to the mature, world-beating athlete that he has become.
The work that goes into him having a rare combination of extreme foot speed, stamina and physical strength goes as unnoticed as the kind of thoughtful gesture outlined above.
we were given a rare insight when several British scribes were invited to witness his training camp in Miami in the lead-up to Christmas in 2012.
A couple of things stand out in the memory, beyond our comic attempts to compete on one particular instrument of gym torture called the Versaclimber.
One was how utterly destroyed Murray was at the end of a full day, barely able to keep his eyes open when we met up again in the early evening. Another was his sheepish admission that he was not the person to ask about places to go out on South Beach because, despite having a second home in the city, he had barely ventured there.
If anything his lifestyle has become even more ascetic since, as he has channelled everything into maximising the years he has left. Since becoming a father the recreational trips to watch his sporting passions of football and boxing are less frequent. A more favoured form of relaxation seems to be playing snooker at the All england Club, where he has been known to enter club competitions.
The complexity of the struggle for No 1 should not be underestimated, and it would be wrong to say that there have not been times when he has despaired at his task.
In the ‘ mature’ phase of his career there have been two sustained slumps, both as a result of the dejection that followed him losing the Australian Open final, in 2010 and 2011.
Those finals were followed by several months when he could not bring himself to train and compete with his usual vigour, fearing he would never break his Grand Slam duck. One recalls an early-round loss in Miami to someone called Alex Bogomolov, when he was virtually in tears afterwards.
There was actually a minislump around the same period this year, as he contended with another Melbourne loss and the disruption of new parenthood.
Since then his form has been superlative, although it is hard to believe that less than two months ago — shattered after the Olympics — he went down to a somewhat listless defeat to Kei Nishikori at the US Open.
After that he plotted to bolster his ranking points total for a run at Novak Djokovic next year by adding the Vienna Open to his schedule. The idea was to make the task easier in 2017, but the Serb’s decline has made it come sooner. It has been an astonishing effort.
Of course, Murray is not without a few shortcomings, and his on-court behaviour can still be petulant. But this can also be explained by his rage for perfection, and is different to what he is like away from the game.
The biggest trope about him is that he is somehow ‘ antienglish’, which is nonsense, although he did set his image back among many in 2014 with a Tweet that appeared to support Scottish independence.
He is entitled to a view, but the truth is that few people know what he really thinks about this subject, as in public he completely avoids it.
Not long after the Scottish referendum I asked him if it might affect his commitment to the British Davis Cup team. He fixed me with a death stare that threatened to bore a hole through my head, and stated simply that actions would speak louder than words — then went and won the competition for the nation almost singlehandedly.
As impressive as his Davis Cup results was the way he travelled to Belgrade for the quarter-final as a non-playing supporter after wimbledon. Playing himself would have invited physical burnout. His commitment to British tennis and selfless support of other players is one of the most admirable things about Murray. Unlike some world No 1s, he has the empathy that will make him an outstanding coach one day, not to mention TV analyst.
Being mindful of others, and remaining so modest while achieving great personal goals, is why this remarkable year for him is likely to end with a third Sports Personality of the Year award — and perhaps a knighthood.
His support for others is so admirable