Andy Murray become worlds No 1 tennis player for the first time after Milos Raonic withdrew from their Paris Masters semi-final on Saturday. Raonic walkover was confirmed by him because he suffered a tear to his right quad during his last eight victories over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and thus would not be able to feature in Saturday’s semi final. Thus handing the final place to Murray which will become official on Monday morning.
When asked how it feels when compared with winning three slams or the Davis Cup, Murray said: “It’s quite different because the slams, you obviously prepare for them. It comes quite quickly, the result, in the space of two weeks. It’s unfortunate the way that it happened. I would have liked to have done it on the court, but it’s been many years of work to get here. Especially at this stage of my career, as well … so it’s more satisfying in some ways.
“It’s been such a difficult thing to do because of how good the guys ahead of me have been. Even this year, to even be there for one week and be 20 points ahead, or whatever, I have had to win so many matches and get to the latter stage of pretty much every tournament I have played.
“They [Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal] are three of the best players that have ever played the game. Some of the years that they have had in that period have been ridiculous, really – three slams, double slams and many Masters series, as well. So it’s taken a great year to get there.”
In addition to this it would be fair to say a semi final against a fit Raonic would have been a tougher game than be the final against Isner whom Murray has beaten in all of their seven matches.
Murray said in a joking manner “I’m not sure this is right in the rules but, if I get defaulted in the match tomorrow, I don’t think I get the points from this week. So I need to make sure I’m on my best behaviour, keep my racket in my hands and all will be well on Monday. “I need to reset what it is I’m trying to achieve. Hopefully, I’ll feel good for that. I had a similar experience last week in Vienna with [David] Ferrer withdrawing before the final.”
Murray said that Raonic told him – and totally by accident – about pulling out. “I was in the locker room watching some videos of Milos’s match yesterday when he came into the room where we were. I kind of, like, quickly closed the iPad. Then he told us he had hurt his quad and he wasn’t going to be able to play.
“I felt quite calm, just because of the nature of how it happened. I didn’t really react. My team were a bit different, gave me a hug and chatted about it.”
