Andy Murray has transcended the need to play tennis, as he has found a way to rise through the rankings without actually playing at all :)

He and Djokovic both played Zagreb last year, and both lost to Ljubicic. However, Andy went out in the first round, while Novak made the semis. As a consequence, Murray has now taken over the #13 spot (his career best) from Djokovic.

:)

But with San Jose to defend, he could slip back if he does not do well enough.

All too true. I hope he can defend the title, actually, although it's bound to be quite a tough task.

If he lost in the first round (unlikely I know but) how many points would he lose roughly?

175pts and drop 3 places to 16th....behind Gasquet ;)

Love it :D

Let's hope he can keep this up though and defend hsi title.

Murray's slipped back provisionally to 16 but if he wins San jose he'll be back to 13th. TO stay there however he'd require djokovic, ferrer and Gasquet to not get too far in Marseille.

where do you see this? He is still number 13!

by provisionally i mean if you take away points that are being defended

Ok - Everything is provisional anyway. ;)

Youzhny has just beaten Djokovic in Marseilles which means ND can't overtake Murray in the points table.

Incorrect. Murray has to defend San Jose to stay ahead of Djokovic even with this loss. An early exit for ferrer or gasquet would be good also.

What time is Andy on tonight against kim? :unsure:

The Murray Clijsters match is the second evening match, so probably 9 o'clock local time, 5 o'clock UK time

roflmao roflmao

ok cheers. roflmao

Unsurprisingly, Nalbandian failed to repeat as semifinalist in Miami--however he is out even sooner than I'd thought, as I figured Ljubicic would be the culprit for the second tourney running (and fifth time in a row).

The upshot for Murray is that now that the hapless Argentine has dropped 190 points, the Scot is into the No 11 spot in his stead to sit at the very threshold of the Top 10. Additionally, the opening round exits of both Blake and Haas have also softened up the lower rungs of the Top 10. Whether he breaks into it now rather than later hinges on how he fares in the event's second week and how much of his finalist points the lugubrious Croat manages to defend, as well as where his age-mate Djokovic places (but this is less variable given he shares the bottom half of the draw).

The minimum scenarios which will see Murray make a Top 10 debut:

Murray into SFs, Ljubicic and Djokovic both out in R16
7 - Blake, 8 - Haas, 9 - Murray, 10 - Ljubicic

Murray into SFs, Ljubicic out in R16 and Djokovic reaches QFs or better
7 - Djokovic, 8 - Blake, 9 - Haas, 10 - Murray

Murray into SFs, Ljubicic reaches QFs or better and Djokovic out in R16
7 - Ljubicic, 8 - Blake, 9 - Haas, 10 - Murray

To show how he can fall just short:

Murray into SFs, Ljubicic and Djokovic both reach QFs or better
7 or 8 - Ljubicic, 7 or 8 - Djokovic, 9 - Blake, 10 - Haas

And reaching the final will assure a Top 10 finish even if the Serbo-Croat duo maximise results:

Murray into F, Ljubicic reaches SF or better and Djokovic out in SF (to Murray)
7 - Ljubicic, 8 - Murray, 9 - Djokovic, 10 - Blake

So a SF placing for Murray will put him into the Top 10 only if one or both of Djokovic and Ljubicic goes out in the R16. The most plausible way for it to happen would be for Murray to make the semis (taking out Mathieu and Roddick, tricky but within his abilities) and Ljubicic to fall to Nieminen (not so far-fetched given how Ljubicic dropped a set to Santoro and the Finn took out Nalbandian in straights) whilst Djovokic succumbs to Nadal in the QFs (in a rematch of last week's final with the same outcome). Needless to say, anything less than a SF result for Murray means he will have to bide his time and make a push in the clay season. Making the final (a big ask) will however guarantee the breakthrough, but would already be a standout accomplishment on its own.

Even if he fails to make it this week, with only 65 points to depend between now and the end of Roland Garros then if he shows any sort of half decent form on clay he'll crack the top 10.

He only won two matches on clay last season, so there's plenty of room for improvement.

It was a shame last year, I mean he proved he could beat decent players on clay, such as Monfils (before Gael dissappeared bak into obscurity) but he couldn't do it twice in a row........

If Lopez or Nieminen could win today it would be helpful... ;)

Yes, Murray is clearly well poised to break through--it's just a matter of having it done sooner rather than later. The American hard courts are by far his best surface, and in my opinion anything less than a SF result in Miami will have been underperforming. (If it were any other Top 10er than Roddick he'd be facing in the QFs I'd dial down that expectation.)

The problem is that the players he'd be competing with for a consistent Top 10 berth (Ljubicic, Blake, Haas, Djokovic) also have little to nothing to defend in the clay season, the primary exception being a QF result in Monte Carlo for Ljubicic. Also other Top 20 players like Gasquet (who has done well in the clay Masters events before) and Ferrer (a form player this year) can also keep the pressure on him by producing better results. By RG all bets are off, with Ljubicic needing to defend a SF result and Djokovic a QF, but Slams tend to unpredictably shuffle the rankings and Murray also doesn't go very far into them. And Murray just doesn't convince me on clay, even though he's trained on it in Spain apparently. Still, perhaps he's ready to make a mark on that surface as well.

Still should be interesting to see how it all unfolds.

He's done it again ...

and this time, Tommy Haas losing to Karlovic :cry: brings Andy into the top 10 :o

Really good for Muzza! I think he can progress further quite quickly as well with little to defend on the clay whilst lubjo has an FO semi and Djoko has an FO quarter

Well done Andy, at least some good has come out of Tommy losing :P Welcome to the top 10 :party:

Yeh mate exzxttuy;! je ne dsid wuoi si Murrsay a bien fini sas cm0letinj, mais c'est dfo,mmage.

Dans l'avenir j'es[preq wue murray tieen exuto. es mejor aue federer/

I guess WA's saying something to the effect that its a weak era :)
Just a hunch. ;)
But well done Andy . :D

Oh no, not a weak era! roflmao

And he's done yet it again! :lol:

Murray has reached a career-high ranking of No 9 and completed only a single match in the clay season. On taking a closer look I'd reckon it's because Ljubicic has fallen out of the Top 10 after failing to repeat his RG semi placing, and Haas lost all his third-round points by dint of missing RG.

Murray has no points to defend until Wimbledon, so assuming his recovery proceeds apace (knocking on wood) he can actually pick up where he left off rankings-wise. After that things will become much trickier but if he's fit he should be able to roughly maintain his ranking although improving on it will be rather difficult until next season.

Unbelievably, Murray's ranking rises again without striking a ball. As far as injury layoffs go, it hasn't been so bad. B)

This time he reaches a career-high No 8. Looks to be on account of Blake's dropping some of his finalist points from Queen's last year, sending him just ten points beneath the Scot into the ninth spot.

its incredible his ranking is increasing more, the less he plays :o he will need to repeat his USO series success of last year though to get in the top 8 in the race