The best in the world: When the Murrays topped the ATP rankings in 2016

The dominance and achievements of the Williams sisters, the brilliance of the Bryan brothers and of course, Britain’s very own Murray brothers.

In 2016, Andy and Jamie Murray achieved a feat that no pair of brothers have ever achieved before or since – holding the ATP world No.1 spot in both singles and doubles during the same season.

It was a year in which they collectively captured three Grand Slams, 12 tour-level titles, an Olympic Gold medal, reached a Davis Cup semi-final and became the best players in the world.

Following the announcement that Jamie has joined his brother in retiring from professional tennis, we look back on the season the Murrays ruled the world.

Grand Slam glory Down Under

Coming off the back of their Davis Cup victory at the end of 2015 – Great Britain’s first title in 79 years – the Murrays were full of confidence heading into the new season.

Just a few weeks into their partnership, Jamie and partner Bruno Soares won their first title of the year in only the second week at the Sydney International, before turning their attention to the Australian Open.

At this point in his career, Jamie had won the Wimbledon mixed doubles Grand Slam title in 2007, but was yet to get his hands on men’s doubles silverware.

In their third tournament together, Murray and Soares came back from a set down in the final to beat Daniel Nestor and Radek Stephanek 2-6, 6-4, 7-5.

It was the realisation of Jamie’s lifelong dream and he became the first British men’s doubles champion at the Australian Open in 82 years.

Meanwhile, brother Andy came into Melbourne as the world No.2 and went on to reach his fifth Australian Open men’s singles final.

The British star eventually lost out to his arch-rival Novak Djokovic in straight sets, but Andy’s biggest successes were to come later in the year.

Britain’s first world No.1

Fast-forward a few months to April and Jamie unlocked a new milestone in British tennis history.

Following Brazilian Marcelo Melo’s early exit at the Miami Open, Jamie took his place as the ATP doubles world No.1.

He became the first British player to reach the top of the rankings in the modern era, paving the way for the likes of doubles stars Joe Salisbury, Neal Skupski and Lloyd Glasspool to follow in his tracks.

The team cemented their place at the top of the rankings with a final run in Monte Carlo and then regained the top spot after Roland Garros.

A grass court season to remember

After winning the Rome Masters title, but then losing to Djokovic again in his first Roland Garros final, it was time for Andy and Jamie’s favourite time of the year – the grass court season.

Andy kicked off his summer in style – winning the Queen’s Club Championships for a record-breaking fifth time after beating Milos Raonic in an epic final 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4.

Just a few weeks later, Andy was back at Wimbledon trying to replicate his 2012 success. He dominated in the opening rounds before coming through one of the all-time quarter-finals against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6(10), 6-1, 3-6, 4-6, 6-1.

In the final he met the big-serving Canadian Raonic once again and claimed his second Wimbledon title with a straight sets victory.

He became the first British man to win multiple Wimbledon singles titles since Fred Perry in 1935.

Jamie and partner Soares reached the quarter-finals at both Queen’s and Wimbledon – including a nail-biting loss at SW19 against Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Julien Benneteau 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(11), 6-7(1), 10-8.

However, it was the hard courts where once again the duo would rise to the top later in the season.

An Olympic gold & US Open title

Jamie reached his first ATP Masters final of the year in Canada, before both Murrays starred for Team GB in their third Olympic Games in Rio.

It was Andy who managed to pick up where he left off in London, becoming the first man to ever win back-to-back Olympic gold medals.

He defeated Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro in four sets to continue his reign as the Olympic champion.

Building on their positive week in Toronto, Murray and Soares arrived in New York hoping to challenge for major silverware once again at the US Open.

With that added Grand Slam winning experience, the British, Brazilian pair came through three of their opening five matches in three sets.

Into yet another major final, Murray and Soares were in dominant form to beat Spaniards Pablo Carreno Busta and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2, 6-3.

He became the first British player to lift two Grand Slam men’s doubles titles in the same season.

After the final, he said: "I think we have been able to do a lot of amazing things in our lives on a tennis court. It's just, it's quite amazing thinking about it. I get quite emotional kind of talking about it.”

Closing out an historic season

The brothers combined once again in another strong Davis Cup run in 2016. They came within touching distance of back-to-back finals, before losing in the semi-finals against Argentina in Glasgow.

That would be the last time Andy would lose a match for the rest of the year as the British No.1 continued his incredible run of form on the ATP Tour.

After the Davis Cup, Andy went on a 25-match unbeaten streak, picking up titles at the ATP 500 events in Beijing and Vienna, as well as Masters tournaments in Shanghai and Paris.

It was at the Paris Masters where Andy achieved his life-long ambition of reaching No.1 – ending ‘the Big Three’s’ 666-week reign at the top of the rankings.

This marked the first time ever that two brothers held the world No.1 position in ATP singles and doubles during the same year.

In the final event of the season, the ATP Finals in London, Murray and Djokovic would end up going head-to-head for the year-end No.1 spot in the final match.

He defeated the Serbian 6-3, 6-4 to end Djokovic’s run of four successive Finals titles and finish the year with 78 match victories.

Jamie would go on to reach the semi-final of the ATP Finals and finish the season as the world No.4.

The following year, he would add another Wimbledon and US Open mixed doubles title and continue to etch his name in the history books as one of Britain’s most successful players.