MURRAY: I DESERVE No.1 SPOT
From Back Page Dunblane ace is not in the same league as Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
In a newspaper interview the US star said Murray is a “distant fourth” in the list and added: “Those three guys are better than him. It’s amazing he reached No.1.”
But Murray insisted yesterday he fully merited the world No.1 ranking and the double Olympic champion is adamant players should not just be judged on Grand Slam success.
Murray, who begins his build-up to Wimbledon at the Aegon Championships in London this week, has won three Grand Slams.
Federer has a record 18, Nadal took his total to 15 with his French Open win and Djokovic has 12.
But the Scot has won the last two Olympic singles tournaments – the only player in history to achieve the feat – and took the last five tournaments of 2016 to finish the year as world No.1.
Murray said: “It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. I’m very proud of the Olympic medals.
“There are other tournaments outside the Slams as well. Most of the players enjoy competing in them. This tournament (Queen’s) over my career is my best tournament.
“Everyone’s criteria for judging a player will be different. For pretty much all of my career, I’ve always been behind them in the rankings.
“If you look at the titles and everything those guys have won, I can’t compare myself to them.
“There’s maybe one or two things I have done that they won’t have but for the most part I would have been fourth.
“But it’s not true of the last year because I’m ranked No.1 in the world. I’ve been better than them for the last 12 months, that’s how the ranking systems work.”
Starting against Aljaz Bedene tomorrow, Murray is bidding to extend his record by winning a sixth title at Queen’s Club.
The defending champion, who reached the semis in Paris, said: “Obviously I am playing better now than I was before the French. In practice, I am hitting the ball a lot better than I was.”
Meanwhile, his brother Jamie received a massive pre-Wimbledon boost after claiming the 18th ATP title of his career at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart.
The 31-year-old Scot and Brazilian Bruno Soares pipped fourth seeds Oliver Marach (Austria) and Mate Pavic (Croatia) 6-7 7-5 10-5 in yesterday’s final to land their first title since the Mexican Open in February.
They will now bid to add the Wimbledon crown to last year’s Australian and US Open victories.
Jamie said: “We’ve had a few close losses this year so it was nice to win this one.”