Most of the news and talk surrounding tennis star Andy Murray at this point in his career has been negative. The Scottish player has had a much worse Grand Slam season to date this year compared to the one that he had in 2016. Furthermore, there is non-stop talk about Murray needing to miss time on tour to recover from a nagging hip injury with Tim Henman weighing in on the matter recently.
However, there is a positive side to Murray's career right now. As of the new July 31st, 2017 rankings Murray has been ranked No. 1 for 39 weeks. It can be deduced that he will remain No.
1 in next week's August-6th rankings. That all means that he will budge up the all-time list into a tie with Ilie Nastase for 14th-most weeks as the No. 1 player.
Murray's lead in the current rankings may be slim as his edge over Rafael Nadal, the World No. 2, is not even 300 points. Furthermore, Roger Federer is still lurking, about 1200 ranking points behind Murray. However, the Scot has no points to defend this week, so he won't lose ground to Nadal or Federer for a failed defense. Furthermore, neither Federer nor Nadal are active in this week's ATP tournaments in either America, Mexico, or Austria. That guarantees that Murray will get to 40 weeks on top of the world, the amount that Nastase accrued during his career.
World No. 1 on the line in Montreal
The Canadian Masters, which will be played in Montreal this year, is an event that will have the World No. 1 ranking on the line. The players' list may yet change, but as of July 31st, all of Murray, Nadal, and Federer are on it. The event will run next week, and all in that trio have much to gain in the event.
Not one of them played in the 2016 Rogers Cup. For Federer, that was because he shut his season down after Wimbledon. For Nadal and Murray, the 2016 Olympics in Rio made the 2016 summer season squishy for tournaments, and something just had to go.
Murray is by no means guaranteed top spot in the August 13th rankings. The Scot will enter the 2017 Rogers Cup in Montreal with a lead over Nadal, however, if the Spaniard should gain 286 points relative to Murray then it would be Rafa that would be back on top.
Regarding the all-time list, Nadal is 7th with 141 total weeks atop the rankings. He would need a longer stay to get closer to John McEnroe, the 6th player on the list.
If Nadal wins the Rogers Cup, he will be #1
One simple scenario that would see Nadal back on top of the world would just be for him to win the Rogers Cup in Montreal. That would bring 1000 ranking points his way, and the runnerup finisher would only get 600. Therefore, there would be no way Murray could protect his lead if Nadal wins the title in Montreal. Conversely, for the Scot to stay No. 1 for certain, he would need to at least match Nadal's round of elimination.
Roger Federer will not enter the picture for the No. 1 ranking in Canada.
However, Cincinnati could be a different matter, depending on how things go in Montreal. For certain, it is an interesting time on tour as Murray can improve his legacy by moving up the all-time list for most weeks at No. 1. Meanwhile, Federer and Nadal are each looking to regain something that neither has had for years: top spot on tour.
