Australian Open 2012: improving Murray targets No 1 spot by end of season

Despite failing to reach this year’s Australian Open final, Andy Murray still believes that he has it in him to overtake the three legends who stand above him on tennis’s rankings ladder — and to do so before the end of the year. 

Murray’s five-set defeat to Novak Djokovic on Friday night extended his long run without a Grand Slam title, and took his head-to-head record against the other three members of the “Big Four” to two wins and nine defeats in major tournaments.

But the quality of his performance demonstrated that he has improved significantly since he faced Djokovic here 12 months ago. Asked on Saturday whether he felt that his dynamic effort in the semi-final had proved a point, Murray replied: “Yeah, I think so. You’re always going to have people that doubt me and say: ‘He’s not that good, he’s not as good as them.'

“I’m aware that I still need to prove some things and win matches like [Friday] night’s,” he added.

“But I’m much closer than I was at this stage last year. Novak played great tennis the whole of last year, and made a big improvement.

"Now I think that I’ve started to improve and I think it’s because of those guys that I’m playing as well as I am. I want to get to No 1. That’s one of my goals this year and I’ll try my best to do it.”