Tennis World english 39 Tennis World EN 39 | Page 8

major career goal still to elude him: the world
number one ranking.

Slams, and returned to the fold just before
Wimbledon. Murray immediately won their

Which brings us to 2016. Djokovic started the

first tournament together at Queen's, and
soon found himself in a very favorable

season in a league of his own. He won the
Australian Open, as well as the Masters

position at Wimbledon. Djokovic was
eliminated in the third round, Nadal was not

1000 events in Indian Wells, Miami and

playing and Federer was on the other side of

Madrid. His lead in the rankings was so large
it was palpably absurd to think anyone would

the draw. In fact, Federer was eliminated in
the semi-finals. Only Raonic stood between

ever catch up to him.

Murray and a second Wimbledon title, and
Raonic could not put up much resistance in

And Murray? He once again lost the final in
Melbourne, was eliminated in the third round
of the first two Masters 1000 tournaments,
and lost the final in Madrid. He managed to
reach the final of the French Open, to the
surprise of many observers, but once again

the end.

fell short against Djokovic, who appeared
absolutely untouchable at that point.
Then came Ivan Lendl. The former Grand
Slam champion had coached Murray during
his first productive period, when he won two

of the year.

But even after all of this, Djokovic was still
lightyears ahead of Murray in the rankings. It
would take a miracle to get anywhere near
him, let alone overtake him, before the end

Then came the Olympics. Though players
did not receive points for competing,
Djokovic lost in the first round while Murray