Just how good is Andy Murray?
Question) What's the next number in this series 317, 213, 164, 132, 111? Answer) We'll know pretty soon, but it should be in the seventies.
The figures show a roughly monthly progression in Andy Murray's world ranking. And who knows where he'll end up.
Murray's achievement of reaching the final of an ATP event before the age of 19, puts him on a par with the world's best in terms of development.
The man that beat him, Roger Federer had only reached a semi-final at Murray's age. The BBC has an interesting article, Murray marches on, that includes comparisons to Andy Murray
Federer's victory over Murray was his 31st match win on the trot.
The key for Federer and the key for Murray is self-confidence. As Murray himself said:
"Before Queens or Wimbledon, if somebody had said I was going to be in the top 80 in the world in three months I would have said I'd got no chance ...
"But I got a lot of self-belief after I won against some really good players there, and then I went over to the States and played some smaller tournaments and had a lot of confidence and I won a couple of them.
"So it's been a pretty good three months for me. I wasn't expecting it, but I always believed I could get to the top. So it's a pretty big deal and I'm happy with what I've done."
There was a time when Andy Murray and his older brother, Jamie were roughly on a par - both in the top 30 juniors in the world. Jamie Murray is currently ranked 1027 in the world.
The Scotsman has an excellent article that looks at Andy Murray and Scottish youth tennis.
See also: Tennis Players
Top Tennis Tipping in the US Open