The day Andy Murray reached No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, the Saturday before he won his first BNP Paribas Masters title, he and Ivan Lendl talked on the phone for the first time in months.
Lendl, who rejoined Murray's team earlier this season, congratulated the 29-year-old on passing Novak Djokovic and reaching the lifelong dream. But they didn't reminisce about the Scot's 18-match win streak or his consecutive titles in Beijing, Shanghai and Vienna.
Instead, they got to work. They discussed Murray's Paris final and talked about how they'd prepare for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, which starts Sunday at The O2 in London.
“I like that, it's good,” Murray said during his pre-tournament press conference. “I don't need to be discussing what happened the last few months too much. I need to obviously keep trying to improve, keep getting better. That's what I've always done when we've been working together.”
His “always-improve” mentality has been evident throughout this season. He's climbed to No. 1, of course, but Murray has also achieved career-high marks in nearly every major category.
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His 73 wins: a career high. His eight titles, the most he's won in a season. His three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles are also the most he's captured during a 12-month span. Off the court, too, Murray has enjoyed his greatest year. He and his wife, Kim Sears, welcomed their daughter, Sophia Olivia, on 7 February.
“This year... I consider the best year I've had on court. The last few months have been the best in terms of my consistency,” Murray said. “Obviously away from the court, this is by far the best year I've had in my life. Big change but a great change, and I've really enjoyed being a parent.”
The hard-working Murray arrives at the season finale with room for improvement. He's bowed out in the round-robin stage of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals the past two seasons, going 1-2 both years. The last time Murray reached the semi-finals in London was 2012, and he's never reached the final during his seven appearances at the season finale.
“A couple of years I wish I could have played and done a bit better,” Murray said.
This very well could be his year. During practice, Murray noticed the blue court at The O2 is playing a bit faster than it has in past years. The courts in Paris were also playing faster than in past years, and Murray fared fine there, winning his first 14th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title earlier this month.
“I think from a players' perspective, so long as there's consistency in the surfaces, I think that's a positive thing,” Murray said. “At the end of the year, when a lot of the players have played a lot of tennis, to have it on the slowest court and have really, really long rallies is tough... So if the court is a little bit quicker, you might see guys at the net a little bit more, see some shorter points, quicker matches. I think that's good.”