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Fatherhood has helped Andy Murray become the best in the world, says coach

Andy Murray is still adjusting to life as a father, but his coach believes this has helped him as...



Fatherhood has helped Andy Mur...
Golf

Fatherhood has helped Andy Murray become the best in the world, says coach

Andy Murray is still adjusting to life as a father, but his coach believes this has helped him ascend to the top of the tennis world rankings.

Murray became the world number one after Marin Cilic defeated Novak Djokovic in the quarter-final of the Paris Masters and the Scot went on the win the competition with victory over John Isner in the final.

The achievement ends Djokovic's two years (122 weeks to be precise) at the top of the rankings and Murray becomes the first Brit to claim top spot since computerized rankings came into existence in 1973. 

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, his coach Jamie Delgado was asked whether he believed that the birth of his daughter Sophia has helped him improve: "Yeah, I think so."

"So much has happened off the court which has really helped his calmness when he's on tour. It can be quite stressful, all the tournaments he plays and all the pressure he is under. I do definitely think it has helped him a lot."

 Andy Murray celebrates on the podium after defeating John Isner in the final of the Paris Masters tennis at the Bercy Arena. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

The achievement, Delgado says, is the culmination of years of work that is finally paying dividends.

"It’s not just this year he’s worked incredibly hard, but throughout his whole career," he said. "I think it's the hardest thing to do in our sport, to be regarded as the best in our sport over 12 months. From that point of view I think it's his biggest achievement. 

"I think winning Wimbledon for the first time and his first Grand Slam are huge moments that he will never forget, but in terms of the difficulty of what he's just achieved to become number one in the world is going to top it all." 

Murray has been in pursuit of the Serb for the last 11 months and has capitalised on his dip in form at Wimbledon where he exited at the hands of American Sam Querrey.

"This was something that we had talked about at the beginning of the year and if you look back to February or March time, he was actually quite far behind Djokovic at that point. We changed his goals and made them a bit more short term. 

"Then, as the year progressed and the confidence picked up, it became a bit of a reality that it could happen this year. That was more in our goals for the beginning of next year. 

"His from - winning four tournaments in a row - has been incredible. It just sort of happened."

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