Jamie Murray: Andy Murray's brother to make history as first British No 1
The 30-year-old will reach his goal when the rankings are updated next Monday
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Your support makes all the difference.Thirteen years after making his first tentative steps on the senior men’s tour, Jamie Murray will be crowned world No 1 next week. The 30-year-old Scot, who has been on the brink of becoming Britain’s first No 1 in singles or doubles ever since winning the Australian Open at the start of this year, will reach his goal when the rankings are updated next Monday.
Marcelo Melo, the current world No 1, will be overtaken by Murray as a result of the Brazilian’s second-round loss in the Miami Masters. Melo and his partner, Ivan Dodig, were beaten 7-6, 6-4 by Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi, just 24 hours after Murray thought his latest chance of claiming top spot had slipped away with his own early exit from the Miami tournament.
“Last night I went to bed wondering if that was the closest I would ever get,” Murray wrote on his Instagram account. “Today driving in the car my phone started to go crazy.”
Melo passed on his own congratulations. “He really deserves it,” the BBC quoted the Brazilian as saying. “He made the final in Wimbledon, final US Open, won the Davis Cup, won the Australian Open, so he deserves it a lot. I’m happy for him.”
Since the launch of the world rankings – the men’s system was set up in 1973 and the women’s two years later – three Britons have been No 2 but there has never been a British No 1. Virginia Wade became world No 2 in 1975, Andy Murray had his first experience of being No 2 seven years ago and Jamie Murray rose to No 2 last month.
Having beaten his brother to a first Grand Slam or Wimbledon title when he won the mixed doubles at the All England Club alongside Jelena Jankovic in 2007, Jamie has now beaten Andy to the world No 1 position. Although Murray junior is currently No 2 in singles, he is a long way behind Novak Djokovic.
Jamie became No 2 only last month in the wake of his triumph alongside his new partner, the Brazilian Bruno Soares, at the Australian Open. It was his first Grand Slam title in men’s doubles. He has built his rankings total largely on the strength of his performances at the last three Grand Slam tournaments. He was runner-up alongside John Peers at both Wimbledon and the US Open last year.
In his junior days Murray had some ambitions as a singles player, but it was soon clear that doubles offered him the best prospect of success. He has superb reactions at the net, which is such a crucial quality in doubles.
Murray’s breakthrough year came in 2007, when he won his first three senior titles playing alongside the American Eric Butorac. A subsequent partnership with the highly experienced Max Mirnyi held out the prospect of further progress, but the Scot and the Belarusian never quite clicked as a team.
For several years Murray’s career drifted. He was sometimes playing with a different partner every week – he has played with 63 different partners in his career – and only got back on track after joining forces in 2013 with Australia’s Peers, when both men were ranked outside the world’s top 70. Murray worked hard at his game with his coach, Louis Cayer, and the rewards came.
“Thankfully things worked out with John,” Murray said. “I was kind of able to establish a partnership with him. Obviously last year we did a lot of great things that got us right to the top of the game. Then the opportunity to play with Bruno came up. It really worked out well.”
Murray admitted that before getting together with Peers he had contemplated retirement. “I'd had a rough kind of couple of years,” he said. “I didn't have a partner again. I’d been floating around. I didn't really have any direction and didn't quite know where I was going. I didn't want to keep going like that.”
Peers and Murray had three good seasons together. They enjoyed their best year in 2015, when they both finished inside the world’s top 10 and qualified as a team for the first time for the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour finals.
Some questioned Murray’s wisdom in ending the partnership at the end of last season, but his decision was quickly vindicated when he won the Australian Open with Soares in their first Grand Slam tournament together. With the Brazilian’s power from the back of the court and the Scot’s prowess at the net they make a formidable combination.
Murray said that his brother’s success had helped to motivate him. “I guess it encourages you, inspires you, when you see all the amazing things he has done on the court for the last 10 years,” he said. “You see how hard he works to get the results that he has had. It's kind of told me to get a shift on, put in the time, as well, do what was necessary to try to get the best results for your career.”
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