Jamie Murray of Great Britain with (out of frame) Bruno Soares of Brazil in action against Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez of Spain in the doubles during day eleven of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 17, 2016 in Indian Wells, California. Julian Finney/Getty Images/AFP
Britain’s Jamie Murray, the older brother of two-time Grand Slam singles champion Andy Murray, became the ATP doubles world number one for the first time on Sunday without even taking the court.
Murray will move up from second in the next rankings to dethrone Brazil’s Marcelo Melo after the South American and Croatian partner Ivan Dodig were beaten 7-6 (7/1), 6-4 by Filipino Treat Huey and Belarusian Max Mirnyi at the ATP and WTA Miami Open.
Melo failing to reach the quarter-finals meant he would drop enough points to fall behind Murray, even though the 30-year-old Scottish left-hander had already been eliminated from the tournament.
“Last night I went to bed wondering if that was the closest I would ever get,” Murray posted on Instagram. “Today driving in the car my phone started to go crazy.”
Jamie Murray, who joined his brother to spark Britain to last year’s Davis Cup crown, won the Australian Open men’s doubles crown two months ago alongside Brazilian partner Bruno Soares for his first Grand Slam doubles crown.
He reached his first Grand Slam doubles finals last year alongside then-partner John Peers of Australia, losing in the championship matches at Wimbledon and the US Open.