Andy Murray: I aim to stay as world No 1

Andy Murray poses with the ATP World Number One trophy after winning the men's singles final against Serbia's Novak Djokovic. Picture: Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images

“It’s a very special day,” Murray said. “Obviously playing Novak in a match like this, we’ve played grand slam finals, Olympics and then matches like this. It’s been a tough rivalry.

“I’ve lost many of those matches. I’m obviously happy to get the win today and to finish the year as No 1 is very special. This is something I never, never expected. I would like to try and stay at No 1, obviously. It’s taken a huge effort the last five, six months to get there. I would obviously like to stay there.

“I’m aware that’s going to be extremely difficult because I had a great year this year. I only managed to do it by one match. To repeat that again next year is going to be extremely difficult.

“But now that I’ve got there, I obviously would be motivated to try and stay in that position.”

Murray, who won 6-3, 6-4, is now 29 years old and nearer to the end of his career than the beginning. Yet he still feels there are several good years left in him and, having reached the summit of his sport, he sees new horizons ahead of him.

“I’d obviously want to try and achieve as much as I can these next few years because I’m not going to be around forever,” he said. “I’m not going to be able to play at this level and play this many matches into my mid-30s.

“These next few years, I want to try and make them the best of my career, try and win as much as I can. But it’s going to be tough because, as you get older, the young guys are going to keep improving and getting better. There’s some really good young ones now.

“It’s going to be hard, but I’ll try to keep going.”