Wimbledon men’s singles champion Andy Murray is confident he and his team will win more trophies in the coming years.
“Hopefully together we can win a few more Grand Slam titles, although I’m not going to put a number on it,” said Murray following his straight sets victory against Novak Djokovic on Sunday 7 July.
“If the number one ranking comes that would be great,” he told BBC Sport, “but I now hold two of the slams, have reached the final of another and won Olympic gold, and I’m nowhere near being number one. I’ll concentrate on trying to win the big titles and the ranking will look after itself.”
Murray, the first British man to win the Wimbledon title since 1936, added: “One thing I can already look forward to is walking out on Centre Court on the first Monday next year as the Wimbledon champion. I just cannot imagine what that experience will be like.”
The Scottish tennis sensation said he knew the high expectations placed on him since he started playing the London-based tournament as a junior in 2004.
“That can be difficult to handle and when I was younger it might have made me angry sometimes,” he said. “I was still a kid in those early days and maybe not mature enough to deal with those things.”
However, Murray revealed that he took serious offence when he and his family were being criticised in the press and on social media.
“It does upset you when people you don’t know are criticising you, and things are getting said about your family and the people around you,” he said. “It can challenge you mentally as well.
“You start doubting yourself: Am I working with the right people? Am I doing the right thing by training here? Have I picked the right coach? It’s not easy. The nice thing now is that hopefully I’ll be able to stick with my team until the end of my career.”
He also claimed that playing tennis as a young man made him understand the value of family.
“When you’re working with people who are 35, 40 years old, they don’t want to spend 40 weeks away from their family,” he said.
In the wake of Murray’s historic Wimbledon victory, British Prime Minister David Cameron said he wants the tennis star to be given a knighthood.
“I can’t think of anyone who deserves one more,” said Cameron, who added that Murray’s win had “lifted the spirits of the whole country”.
