While most of the tennis world is awaiting the outcome of Roger Federer's chase of Novak Djokovic's No. 1 ranking, another contender has flown under the radar and put himself into position to be the 2015 Roger Federer.
Reintroducing Andy Murray.
According to tennis.com, Murray qualified for the year-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London later this month. Murray beat Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters on Friday. He lost to No. 1 ranked Novak Djokovic 7-5, 6-2 to temporarily halt his run.
Murray was ranked outside of the Top 10 after the U.S. Open, but grinded through six tournaments to qualify for London, which is, of course, home to him.
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But motivation alone wasn't going to qualify Murray for London. According to tennis.com:
"Over the past six weeks, Murray is 20-(3) (in single-map competition). His confidence, which has not been this impressive since he won Wimbledon in 2013, appears to have been restored. The passive-aggressive Andy who has befuddled pundits and so many of his fans over the years has morphed into aggressive-aggressive Andy once again, even if he's never been destined to bomb huge serves or overwhelm opponents in the manner of the deft Federer or the bludgeoning Djokovic."
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In fact, Dimitrov had won only two previous meeting against Murray this year.
But on Friday, Murray turned the tables on Dimitrov, thanks to his serve.
"He converted 66 percent of his first-serve deliveries and won almost all his first-serve points. He also won nine of 15 of those critical second-serve points that sometimes leave him vulnerable. And Murray made just 11 unforced errors while smacking 18 winners," tennis.com reported.
Federer started the new year ranked eighth in the word and moved all the way up to No. 2 with an outside chance at No. 1. Murray is putting himself in position to make a similar run in 2015, having dropped to No. 12 in September before rallying to the No. 8 ranking.
And it's Murray, not Federer, who has the most recent Grand Slam championship -- at Wimbledon in 2013.
The only news Murray had made earlier this year was hiring Amelie Mauresmo as his coach, replacing Ivan Lendl, who decided to leave in the spring.
Now Murray has more tennis to build on.
Do you think Andy Murray can recapture his spot among tennis' elite players? Comment below or tell us @SportsWN.
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