Andy Murray has a good chance to end the year at No. 2 for the first time. But he says that while that would be a good achievement, getting to No. 1 is a more significant goal.
Novak Djokovic is currently No. 1 and is almost 6,000 points ahead of No. 2 Murray. Even if Djokovic happens to decline, it will still take Murray months to catch him and pass him.
Murray has been able to climb to No. 2 during the course of seasons, but the two-time Grand Slam champion was never able to finish the year second.
“All of the players on the tour would like to get to No. 1 in the world,” said Murray, who lost to Djokovic in the semifinals of Shanghai. “Obviously this year I have a good chance to finish at No. 2, which would be the first time for me.
"There's still a lot of possibilities where I could finish at maybe even No. 4, or whatever, if Stan (Wawrinka, who is currently No. 4) plays extremely well between now and the end of the year, and Roger (Federer) as well. Look, the goal is to try to win tournaments, try and win the big events. If you do that, the ranking will go in the right direction."
Murray is currently about 1,100 points in front of Federer and is leading Wawrinka by 1,700 points.
Of the so-called Big 4, Djokovic, Federer and Rafael Nadal have become No. 1, and have stayed there for a long period of time. However, Great Britain's Murray has yet to do so.
But he knows what is required to get to the top of the rankings.
“This year, although I'm a long way behind Novak in the rankings, a few matches can change that significantly,” Murray said. “Grand Slam semifinals and finals, they're the matches that are for big, big points. That's something, if I want to get to No. 1 in the world, need to win a couple more of them. So hopefully next year I'll be able to do that.”