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Andy Murray Becomes World Number One For First Time In His Career After Raonic Walkover In Paris

By Lawrence Arboleda
Published on: 05:04 PST, Nov 5, 2016

Andy Murray has earned the world No. 1 ranking in men’s tennis for the first time following Milos Raonic’s last-minute withdrawal from the Paris Masters semi-final on Saturday.

After staying at the No. 2 spot for 76 weeks, Murray has toppled Novak Djokovic for the No 1 ranking, ending the Serb’s 122-week reign as the world’s best tennis player, BBC Sports reports.

“I have put myself in a position to do something that takes a lot of consistency, a lot of concentration for a long period of time,” said Murray on Friday, following his 7-6, 7-5 quarter-final win over Tomas Berdych.

Djokovic, who became world No 1 in July 2014, was beaten in the semi-finals on Saturday by Croatian Marin Cilic on Friday.

Andy Murray is scheduled to face American John Isner in Sunday’s final.

Milos Raonic withdrew from the tournament due to a torn right quad, which the Canadian believes was acquired during his quarter finals victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Friday.

“Yesterday at I believe 4-2 in the first set I started feeling some pain in my leg. I didn’t think too much of it at that point. This morning I had trouble waking up and getting out of bed. So I went to sort of clear any serious diagnosis. Did some tests. Did an MRI. So they found that I have a tear, grade-one tear in the right quad.”

Raonic admits that the injury would cause him to postpone his participation in the ATP World Tour Finals.

“Yes, it does. I still have the possibility of making it but I was told five to 10 days. So I’m on the borderline for that. I still have a possibility that I might be able to play more this year, on one of the biggest stages, important moments in tournaments, for us as tennis players. Now, I just rather than feeling bad about it, I try to put the attention on trying to make the most of these days.

“I have, I believe, at least eight days before I play a first-round match. The muscle that is damaged is very close to the bone. So any kind of external sort of rehab is ineffective.”

Raonic, who is having one of the best seasons of his career, has been hampered by injuries all year long. He arrived in Paris not quite 100-percent on account of soreness in his legs and arms which he acquired during a tough campaign in Asia.

“I couldn’t remember exactly what happened or what I did because it wasn’t that I felt it during the point,” he said.

“The point was finished, and the next point I started feeling it. I thought maybe my muscles were just getting tight. Where I sort of felt it a bit more was standing and getting up and out of the seat on the changeover, sort of when I had cooled down a little bit. During play, staying warm, wasn’t too obvious of an issue. So I didn’t give it too much thought.”

Murray, who was guaranteed the No. 1 ranking if he reaches the finals in the Paris Masters tournament, became the first Briton to earn the top ranking in tennis.

Aged 29 years and 174 days, Andy Murray is now the oldest player to become world No 1 for the first time since John Newcombe in 1974, according to Daily Mail. His rise to the top was bolstered by his phenomenal 59-5 run which started when he played at the Madrid Masters back in May.

Murray is looking to win his sixth title of 2016 when he faces Isner in the finals on Sunday.

A number of tennis professionals such as Martina Navratilova and Andy Roddick took to Twitter to congratulate Andy Murray for becoming the new number one player in the world.

[Featured Image by Ronald Zak/AP Images]

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