DREAM GREEN GRASS OF HOME

Murray: I’ll lose No.1 spot, but I’ll make sure it’s after Wimbledon

ANDY MURRAY says he is bound to lose his No.1 ranking this year.

But the Scot, who sealed the end-of-year top slot by winning the ATP Tour Championship at London’s 02 last November, has vowed to hang on to No.1 status until after the grasscourt season.

After getting back from Paris last weekend, he showed his intent by hitting the Wimbledon practice courts within 48 hours to be ready for the Aegon Championships at Queen’s Club next week – and then the Championships on July 3.

Retaining both titles will see Murray stay in top spot. But failure could see him caught by French Open champion Rafa Nadal, Stan Wawrinka or Novak Djokovic.

“I will give it my best to stay there as long as I can – I hope to stay there until the end of Wimbledon,” said Murray. “I hope to have a strong period on grass. But it is more than likely I will lose the No.1 spot.

“Everyone loses it at some stage and you can’t play the way I played from February through to the French Open if you want to stay at the top. Over the last few months I haven’t played like the No.1.

“But I also feel I am at the start of a new cycle again, starting from the French. I will look to build on that and have a good three, four, five months through to the end of this year.

“Because the build-up to the French wasn’t good, the game was poor. Now I feel I am heading in the right direction again.”

Murray had an incredible run of five consecutive tournament wins to finish 2016.

But starting with a shock early defeat by Mischa Zverev at the Australian Open, the Scot laboured with illness, injury and form before reuniting with head coach Ivan Lendl in Paris, where he reached the semis.

“I was in a pretty bad place before the French Open when he got there,” Murray revealed. “He was like: ‘Wow, it really is not good.’

“Having his presence around helped, for sure. Maybe I am a little bit more on my toes when he is around.”

Murray now needs to be on his toes again with golden oldies Nadal and Roger Federer playing better than ever after injury cut short their 2016 seasons.

“Neither were particularly healthy but the way they have come back has been amazing,” he said.

“They are both great players and, when they are fit and healthy, they can beat anyone.

“It definitely gives me a little bit of extra motivation now, after the start of the year, to try to get back up to that level.”