By Dec Campbell
Andy Murray has had an eventful 2016, both on and off the court. And Saturday the 5th of November was a proud moment in British sporting history as Murray became the first ever British ATP world number one in tennis.
In the process he defeated American John Isner to claim the Paris Masters and his 8th title of the year.
Becoming World Number 1 in tennis is certainly one of sport’s biggest achievements considering Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are the only men to hold number 1 spot before Murray since 2004.
Murray told BBC Sport: “It’s been many years of work to get here. It’s been such a difficult thing to do because of how good the guys around me have been.”
On the back of Andy Murray’s historical triumph, news was filtering in from all ends of the spectrum, from deserved praise, to adulation.
The Telegraph described Andy Murray as “the Alpha male of the world tour”. The Scotland Herald were quick to praise their country’s prize asset and said: “Murray’s rise to top of rankings merely confirms status as Scotland’s greatest ever sportsman.”
Following his straight sets win over Isner, Murray was bombarded with messages all over Twitter. One of the first to congratulate him was his mother Judy who posted a heart-warming throwback picture of herself and Andy with the caption “you’ve come along way baby.”
Previous world number one Djokovic took the news like the true champion he is and posted on his Twitter: “Congratulations @andy_murray Well deserved! I am really happy to be in the same era with you.”
It wasn’t just sporting personalities who were celebrating Murray’s success – the First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon was also quick to join in the celebrations: “He’s done it!! Andy Murray is officially the best tennis player in the world. What an incredible achievement. Congratulations #numberone.”