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Murray ends 2016 as No. 1

November 20, 2016

London/Great Britain — Andy Murray won a battle of HEAD tennis heroes as he held off rival Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-4 to win the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals and take the season-ending no. 1 ranking for HEAD. The Scot, who recommends the HEAD Graphene XT Radical, beat his longtime rival for the first time indoors and ended the best season of his career. Djokovic, who endorses the HEAD Graphene Touch Speed, had held the top ATP position for 122 weeks before Murray captured it this month in Paris. The Serb had also won the last four editions of the year-end event at London’s O2 arena.

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Murray thrilled a crowd of 18,000 as he claimed the year-end trophy for the first time on his eighth attempt. He came to the court after laboring for more than three and a half hours the night before to beat Milos Raonic in a semi-final. It was Murray’s fifth title in his last five tournaments and his first victory indoors over Djokovic. “This is a very special day, playing Novak in a match like this. We’ve played Grand Slam Finals, at the Olympics — it’s been a tough rivalry. Finishing the year no. 1 is something I never expected. I couldn’t have done it without my team and my family.”

Murray made a dominating start earning a break for 5-3. He claimed the set in 49 minutes, then began the second by breaking for 1-0 in an eight-minute struggle. He went up a double break for 4-1 but was broken himself in the next game. Murray hung on to his lead to earn the win going away.

Djokovic admitted that he was outplayed on the night: “Andy definitely deserves to end as no. 1. He played better tennis than me. I got better at the end – but by then it was too late. I congratulate Andy and his team for a tremendous year. I have a lot of highlights to look back on, especially from the first part of the season.” 

“We were both a part of history,” he said after finishing the only season-ending match in ATP which determined the top year-end ranking. Djokovic still leads the series 24-11 as he played Murray for the first time since the Roland Garros final on June 5. Murray is now the 17th player since the rankings began in 1973 to finish no. 1. He improved his win streak to 24 matches as he finished the season on 78 wins, nine defeats. 

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HEAD TENNIS, a part of HEAD BV, is a global provider and marketer of premium branded tennis apparel, footwear, and equipment for athletes of all competitive levels. Since its launch in the late 1960s, when HEAD founder Howard Head first introduced the aluminum tennis racquet, the division’s key products have attained leading market positions based on sales and reputation. Many of today´s top ATP and WTA players, including Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Richard Gasquet, Tomas Berdych, Marin Cilic, Maria Sharapova and Sloane Stephens are part of the HEAD Tennis family. For more information, please visit: head.com/tennis.