Murray first British player to be ranked World No. 3

LONDON - Andy Murray Monday became the first British player to be among the top three on the Association Tennis Professional (ATP) rankings.

The British No. 1 has displaced Novak Djokovic as world number three after the Serbian failed to defend his Rome Masters title a week ago, losing to Rafael Nadal in the final.

The 21-year-old said his next aim is to break up the dominance of the top two. Murray, who made his first ever grand-slam final at the US Open last year and won tour titles in Doha, Rotterdam and the Miami Masters this year, is now behind only Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

‘Rafa and Roger are probably the two best players ever so I’d love to try and break that up,’ said Murray.

‘The rankings reflect my good run and I just need to try and focus on winning.’

But Murray is aware breaking into the top two, is a lot tougher ask.

‘To get close, or in-between Roger and Rafa is tough,’ said Murray. ‘They’ve held the top two spots for five or six years. It’s an incredible run and Rafa has already won six Grand Slams. I just need to focus on winning matches.’

Though Murray, ranked fourth, lost in the second round to unseeded Juan Monaco in Rome, he still moved up because Djokovic lost points for failing to regain his last year’s points from the tournament.

Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski both were ranked No. 4 during their careers, the highest rank for any British player.

Former world number one Andre Agassi believes Murray has the game to break into the top two and win several Grand Slams.

Agassi, winner of eight Grand Slam titles, told BBC’s Inside Sport, that ‘Andy’s a multiple slam winner, I think he’ll win more than just one and he’ll do it on at least a couple of surfaces.’