How long until Andy Murray takes away Novak Djokovic's 3rd place ranking and pushes him down to 4th?

Question

Andy Murray of Scotland who plays for Great Britain seems to have Novak Djokovic's number. Andy beat Novak in the Quarters in Toronto 2 weeks ago and again won his first career Masters Series title Sunday with a 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5) victory over Djokovic at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cinncinati.

On a sweltering day where temperatures on the hardcourt hovered around the 100-degree mark, the 21-year-old Murray refused to wilt in the heat as the Scot picked up perhaps the biggest win of his career and sixth career title.

It also marked the second straight victory for Murray over the world’s third-ranked player after he defeated Djokovic last week in the quarterfinals of the Masters Series event in Toronto. Both were straight set wins for Murray.

Answer 1

Even if Andy Murray becomes the better player of the 2, it's going to take awhile before he overtakes Djokovic as the number 3 player in the world.  The ranking system takes into account the results from tournaments played in the prior calendar year (as well as the current year) and so far, Djokovic has had a much better record.  It's going to take a good amount of time before anyone else besides Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic are ranked in the top 3, but I'm ready to see it.

Answer 2

Realistically Andy will have to win Grand Slams and more Masters very soon if he is to get anywhere near Novak any time soon. Novak is a regular semi finalist+(where no.3 should be) Murray needs to do that.

I think he is up there with Novak but I think he needs to get to number 4 first. He is a better player than both Ferrer and Davydenko but he needs there consistancy. Semi finals in Toronto and winning Cincinnati is a good start.

I think Murray will be up there with the big 3 but first things first he needs to be a top 4. as no.4 he would be expected to be a semi finalist everywhere and in theory would get better draws to do so.

Murray is climbing the ladder. But his priority for now and next year is to get to and consolidate a number 4 ranking. rather than get to no3.

Answer 3

Look, full credit to Murray for finally winning a Master's Series event. Back-to-back wins over Djokovic are impressive too. That said, I really think some people may be jumping the gun just a little by putting him up there with the top three. He's a talented player and has steadily improved over the past year and certainly looks more like a guy capable of winning a Slam than ever before in his career. But still, Novak Djokovic has already won a Major: Murray has yet to go beyond the quarters. He is going to have to do a lot more before he can be considered on Novak's level.  

Answer 4

Since Wimbledon Murray's been having some great results, and I think the comeback win over Gasquet is really what got him going. His breakthrough win in Cincinnati is well-deserved and I think it is really the result of the extra work he's been putting in. However, in the most current rankings, Andy is more than 3000 points behind Djokovic, which is no small margin to cover. He certainly has the game to rise into the top echelon of men's tennis, alongside Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic, but it will take time. His best performance in a Grand Slam is this year's QF appearance at Wimbledon (where he was beaten handily by Nadal). In time I think a top five ranking will definitely come, but it isn't until he seriously and regularly becomes a contender for Grand Slams will he attain that sort of position alongside the big three.

Edit: Here is an excellent article about Andy Murray by Steve Tignor: http://www.tennis.com/features/general/f...

I also asked a similar question about this recently.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Answer 5

As long as it takes for Murray to start showing some consistency. He's long been branded as one having lots of potential. But it's no big deal for someone to run into some form and do well in back to back masters events. Nalbandian won Madrid and Paris last year, where is he now? Murray needs to sustain this level of play. Note that Djokovic reached 5 consecutive grandslam semis, including 2 consecutive finals, winning one of them. If Murray can keep up his level, it'll be at least another year before he can match what Djokovic did.

Answer 6

If Murray is knocking anyone down to 4th it will be Federer. Fed is the one going down in the rankings Djoko is movin up. If Murray passes Djoko he would be knockin him down to 3rd not 4th because at the rate Federer is falling by the time Murray catches up to Djoko Fed will be #3.  

Answer 7

No doubt that Andy Murray is a potential top player but at the moment I don't see anyone can break a 3 way tie of the "big 3".  Murray still has a long way to go as there's a more than 3000 huge gap of ranking points between him and Djokovic.  

If Murray wants to take away the no.3 spot from Djokovic, first he must have good results in all 4 majors.  The best result of Murray in Grand Slam has only been the quarterfinal in Wimbledon as Djokovic already a Grand Slam Champion.  And that is the best result so far for Murray as Djokovic has reached at least the semifinals in all four majors.  

Secondly, he must have good results in nine masters series as well.  Prior to his Cincinnati victory, Murray best result in masters series has been a semifinalist in Miami, Indian Wells and Canada masters series where Djokovic has already won 4 of the 9 masters series shield and has reached at least the semifinal or better in 8 of the 9 masters series tournament(except Paris).  It is the 3rd best result among active player (trailing only Federer and Nadal).  All result has shown how consistent Djokovic is and his great ability in all surfaces.  He has the ability to win all majors tournament just like Federer and Nadal.  The result comparison between the two has shown why there's a more than 3000 huge ranking points gap between them.  Even Djokovic has had bad result in Wimbledon & Canada and has lost a lot of points but since he is so consistent in all major tournaments, it really didn't hurt him much as his no.3 spot still seems untouchable.

  

Thirdly, Murray not only must maintain his consistency in Grand Slam and Masters Series and provided Djokovic faded in majors.  Then, only Murray will have the chance to claim the no.3 spot from Djokovic.  Otherwise, it will still be a 3 way tie until at least the end of next year. At the moment, Murray can only challenge the top five or top four position.    

Answer 8

not going to happen

Answer 9

That won't happen until Murray starts being more consistant, and i dont think Murrey has wat it takes to take Novaks throne...

Answer 10

Murray needs to win the olympics, the us open and every master series event until the end of the year (madrid and paris) also if djokovic gets third place or less at the olympics and loses in the first round of the us open and in the first rounds of the master series (madrid and paris) then murray wud be number 3

Answer 11

Not anytime soon. Djokovic has 5390 points while Andy has 2135.

In the race points, Novak has 744 points while Andy has 380.

Answer 12

He doesnt have his number at all since those were the first times he's ever beaten Novak and Novak has punished Murray the previous times and i belive 3 of the 4 sets went to tiebreaks. Plus that heat factor played so much more into Murrays game since he is known as a backboard like nadal so it tired Novak down but murray is used to being tired in long grueling matches... so dont believe that Murray is better than djokovic b/c he is not maybe you should say gilles simon is better than federer