It has been a strange year for men’s tennis, with shocks coming one after another. Be it about Roger Federer, a player embodying physical fitness and longevity, ending his season midway after having a knee surgery due to a freak injury. Or about Rafael Nadal, the matador of Roland Garros, withdrawing in the middle of the tournament with a wrist injury.

To these saddening-yet-intriguing departures from what had come to be the norm for several years, the rise of Andy Murray as the world's best player in the final leg of the season is an infusion of vitality.

The slow turn of momentum

Back in June, after Djokovic won the long-awaited French Open, his ranking points were more than twice as that of Murray’s – 16,950 to 8,915. With both players’ performances seeming impervious to the volatility of the year, a change in the rankings’ guard never looked to be in the offing. And though it feels as if the last few weeks leading unto the shift have sped by, for both players, it is not the end of a gruelling road. But the setting of a precursor to what could come.

Understandably, both Murray and Djokovic did not focus on it – each for reasons of his own – until it was impossible to ignore. And now, right after it has been confirmed, both will be wanting to go on and play out the rest of the year, as best as they can.

Djokovic was expected to come up with one last line of defence befitting his rank as the World No. 1 at the Paris Masters. In the end, he went on to prove, world’s best player or not, he was still exposed to frailties. He was buried under the debris of expectations, had been playing the tournament without either of his coaches accompanying him and was said to be looking at meditational guidance to help him out. Except for brief snatches of his flair, his game remained below, finally cracking under the hard-hitting of Marin Cilic, on Friday.

On the other side of the draw, Murray did not encounter any trouble and as he made his way into the semi-final, apropos to the season, he received a walkover from his injury-prone opponent, Milos Raonic. It is an inconsequential takeaway from what has been the culmination of a long-held dream that kept being buffeted by the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic triad. What is however of bigger significance is what could happen in the next week, at the ATP finals in London.

What can we expect now?

The Scotsman’s five-point lead in the Association of Tennis Professionals' rankings over Novak Djokovic, who held the helm of the men’s rankings for 122 straight weeks, when the rankings come out on Monday makes for an invigorating final showdown.

The Serbian, is the defending champion in London and there are chances that he will miss out on finishing as the year-end No. 1, for the third year on the trot. Comparatively, it is Murray who has to deal with relatively bigger repercussions, going into the finale. From the China Open onward, Murray has been playing relentlessly. In the process, he has achieved three titles back-to-back – with a probable fourth coming on Sunday, if he beats John Isner in the Paris Masters final – and a career-best season in the 11 years he has been on the ATP Tour. The latter has spanned 73 wins and nine losses, with a septet of titles. The same as Djokovic’s tally.

Next week however, Murray will be playing explicitly to defend what he arduously achieved. And for once in all these weeks, it will be him playing under pressure as opposed to Djokovic. It will be the first of many tests for him, to prove himself. Of not being the World No. 1, but in also sustaining himself in that position.

Djokovic proved adept in doing so in the last two years and losing his grasp of the rankings might be just the nudge needed for him to try and recover it. Murray will need to ensure his course of tirelessness does not fade out, right when it needs to be at its peak, to give Britain’s hero, a fitting homecoming.

In doing so, it would also be a return to the cycle of impenetrability that the season’s oddities seemed to have upon them at its start. Albeit with a notable exchange of numerical valuations between the two players.