Originally Posted by BBTweets:
“There was always a huge amount of points difference between them that I never thought he'd be able to do unless he gave up Davis Cup and the Olympics. Whatever
he achieves at the end of the year still bodes well for another exciting year ahead.
I don't think he'd be accepted by a number of people as a true No.1 until he beats Djokovic in another couple of slam finals though.”
There were people who said he was crazy to play the Olympics and Davis Cup, and while I knew it was right for him, I did wonder if he might regret it.
There will always be some who criticise what Murray achieves, and that happens for all players, so it is best ignored. They are now in opposite halves of the draw, so Murray doesn't get to play him, or beat him, now he's playing better. No-one was complaining that Djokovic was number one when Murray was recovering from back surgery - albeit they did meat a lot earlier in tournaments back then, thanks to Murray's ranking dropping.
Ultimately, the #1 is about ranking points, so if you have the most, then you deserve it. If you want to win the 'most slams in the previous 12 month' prize, then it's a different category. Same goes for H2H. You can argue that when you win a slam, you are the best in the world for that period, so the world ranking based on points is supposed to be about other things. Murray beat Djokovic and the Olympics, US Open and Wimbledon, and was still ranked below him.