Over the first 10 days of 2017, we're examining the Top 10 players on the ATP and WTA tours—how will they fare during the new season?. All of the previews can be found here.
Twelve years after joining the tour, and seven years after reaching No. 2, how will Andy Murray react to becoming No. 1 at age 29? Over time, being the hunter rather than the hunted can wear a player down—just ask Novak Djokovic. At first, though, I don’t think Murray will look or act or play much differently than he has in the past. He’s a pro’s pro who keeps his eye on the task in front of him.
Murray has been the Big Four’s tortoise. He was the last to win a Slam, the last to become No. 1 and the last to master the clay game; he didn’t win a tournament on dirt until he was 27. But he has never stopped expanding his horizons. Last year, Murray won in Rome, Beijing, Bercy and at London’t O2 Arena for the first time, and he reached his first French Open final. The question now is, in a year in which he turns 30, can he continue his slow, steady improvement, or come close to matching his 78-9, nine-title annus mirabilis of 2016?
Recent history points in two directions: While Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic all experienced a dip in their play as they approached 30, Stan Wawrinka made his Grand Slam breakthrough around that age, and has done it twice since. As in the past, Murray’s future will depend heavily on the success of his most famous colleagues.