Andy Murray enjoyed the greatest season of his career in 2016.
After years of chasing Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, the Briton finally secured world number one status.
As well as reaching the top of the rankings, Murray clinched his second Wimbledon championship, added three Masters crowns to his name and won an Olympic gold medal.
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That year, he enjoyed his best-ever clay season, having reached the final of the Madrid Open and Roland Garros, as well as winning the Italian Open.
Clay was never Murray’s best surface, but in 2016, he said he finally learned how to excel on the dirt.
Andy Murray’s reaction to winning the 2016 Italian Open
After beating Djokovic to win the 2016 Italian Open, Murray said in his championship press conference: “I never expected to be having the results I have been having on clay.
“But if you actually look at the past results, I have had opportunities to get to the final of Monte-Carlo and get to the final of the event here. I served for the match against Novak a few years ago and had a chance against Rafa a few years ago, too.
“Maybe, you know, maybe I didn’t believe enough in myself. I always thought clay was my worst and hardest surface for me.
“But then last year, getting some wins against the best players made me realise a little bit — you know, I had always been told, my coaches had said to me that clay should really be my best surface, but it took me a long time probably to gain a little bit of confidence.
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“But also I did make huge improvements in my movement on the surface, as well.
“That has sort of changed my mentality when I go on the court a lot. I don’t feel like I’m off-balance anymore, and I feel like I can chase most balls down. And, you know, it’s an easy surface for me to move on now.
“My back feels way, way better than it did a few years ago. I have to thank my team for that for all the hard work that they have put in and the changes they made to my training program, you know, to help me with that. So I have to credit them.”
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Murray beat Djokovic fairly comfortably in the Italian Open final, winning in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3.
Asked where the win ranks in his career, Murray said: “I don’t know how significant it is. I mean, you know, each time I go up against him, I know I have to play a great match to win.
“Sometimes you play great tennis and you don’t win, because, you know, he’s such a good player or great player, even.
“But, yeah, any time you beat the best player in the world it’s a big win. The finals of a Masters Series on clay again is something that’s a new experience for me.
“It’s not really something I have done throughout my career, so it’s nice to still be sort of achieving new things and reaching new goals, you know, at this stage of my career.
“So I’m really happy about that. And I had great preparation now going into the French Open as well with a lot of matches. I have played against Rafa a couple of times, Novak a couple of times. You know, not won all of the matches, but competed extremely well even in the ones I have lost.”
Murray never made it past the second round of the Italian Open in his future campaigns.
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