Murray motivated to sustain dominance as World No. 1

World No. 1 Andy Murray, who ended his 2016 campaign on a perfect note after defeating Novak Djokovic in straights in the summit clash of the ATP World Tour Finals, has warned the Serb saying that he is ready to embark on a sustained period of dominance.

Murray dethroned Djokovic 6-3, 6-4 in a contest that lasted for an hour and 43 minutes to earn his first title at the ATP finals and make sure he remained No. 1 until next season.

"I would like to try and stay there, obviously. It's taken a huge effort the last five, six months to get there," Murray was quoted as saying by Sport24 after his 24th consecutive victory brought him a fifth title in his last five tournaments.

 

"I'm aware that's going to be extremely difficult because I had a great year this year and I only managed to do it by one match. But now that I've got there, I would be motivated to try and stay in that position," he added.

Murray, who takes home USD 2,391,000 and 1,500 Emirates ATP Rankings points, is the 10th different No. 1 ranked player to win the title at the season finale. Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have taken turns holding the No. 1 slot over the past 12 years. Andy Roddick, in 2003, was the last player other than those three to end the season at No. 1.

"The majors are what gets me working hard and what really, really motivates me. When I go away in December to train, I'm training with the Australian Open in mind," he said.

"I'd want to try and achieve as much as I can these next few years because I'm not going to be around forever. These next few years, I want to try and make them the best of my career, try and win as much as I can," he added.

The 29-year-old Briton took over the top spot on November 7 after winning his eighth title of the season at the Paris Masters.

He had lost 13 of his previous 15 meetings with the Serb, including the Australian and French Open finals this year, and he admitted it was a huge moment finally to get the better of his old rival.

"Over the last couple of years I lost a lot of the big matches against him. This one was a big match and I managed to get over the line," he said.

Murray insisted that the win would provide him with the boost going into next year as well.