It was fitting that Andy Murrays first public comment, so to speak, upon becoming world No. 1 was to post a picture to his Instagram account quoting Rudyard Kiplings poem If.It is a line from the same poem that Murray passes below every time he walks out onto Centre Court at Wimbledon.The words were the last thing he saw before that heartbreaking 2012 final defeat to Roger Federer, but also the glorious victories over Novak Djokovic a year later -- the second in the Olympic final -- and this summer against Milos Raonic that brought him two of his three Grand Slam titles.Those gold letters read: If you can meet with triumph and disaster, and treat those two impostors just the same. It seems like a strapline for Murrays career.He posted the extended version online on Saturday when he completed his ascent to world No.1, after Raonic withdrew injured from their Paris semifinal. The poem has never rung truer, nor been more relevant for the Scot.There must have been times when Murray was weighed down by self-doubt; it would have taken some strength after losing five of seven Grand Slam final meetings against Djokovic, the latest at this years French Open, to feel confident his quest to topple his greatest foe was not futile.Dont forget, Djokovic held a seemingly insurmountable lead of more than 8,000 points over Murray in the rankings after beating the Scot at Roland Garros.But Murray is 56-4 since the start of the Rome Masters, when the Amelie Mauresmo era came to an official end, and claimed the title in Italy before tournament wins at Queens, Wimbledon, the Olympics, Beijing, Shanghai, Vienna and, finally, Paris.Now, more than seven years after becoming the second-best player in the world, in August 2009, he has cleared the final hurdle.Murray, remarkably, now has a 130-point lead over Djokovic in the year-end battle, with a total of 10,910 points. Few would have thought that possible when the Serb lifted his 14th major title in France earlier this summer, to complete his career Grand Slam.Yet, as good as it will have felt to overtake Djokovic, Murrays deflation will be just as sizeable should they return to the status quo and he finish the year playing second fiddle in the rankings once again.The Olympic champion will surely be determined to make a statement at the World Tour Finals, which begin in London on Sunday, to prove he is here to stay at the top of the game.The good thing for Murray is that he has only 200 points defend, while for Djokovic, the 2015 champion, 1,300 points are at stake.The Briton has not got a great record at the finals and won just one of his three round robin matches last year, on his way to an early exit. However, in trying to retain his ranking, he has to bear in mind the loss on Nov. 28 of the 275 points earned in last years Davis Cup final.If Murray wants to keep it simple, winning the World Tour Finals would make him the year-end No.1.There are other, more complicated scenarios in which he can still finish 2016 atop the rankings, though: if he matches or does better than Djokovic; if he finishes runner-up with three round-robin wins and the Serb wins the title with one round-robin win; or if Murray wins three round-robin matches and Djokovic is runner-up with one round-robin win.Djokovic is far from helpless in this, however. If he successfully defends his title with at least two round-robin wins, he will finish as the No.1 for the fifth time in the past six seasons.It all makes for a potentially thrilling finale to the season at the O2 Arena, where a maiden World Tour Finals title victory would also set Murray up to really cement a glittering legacy in 2017.This years has, undoubtedly, been great for Murray -- one British bookmaker is offering odds of 1/5 he will be knighted in the New Year Honours list, and Federer seemed to hint Murray deserved the accolade in a congratulatory tweet -- but next year could be the defining season of his career.With Federer and?Rafael Nadal?seemingly succumbing to injury, and Djokovic showing signs of waning, Murray would have a chance to dominate the mens game. Ending his awful run in Australian Open finals, with four of his five defeats at the hands of Djokovic, would be a very good place to start.Elsewhere on his to-do list, victories at Indian Wells and Monte Carlo would complete his Masters collection, and highlight just how consistently successful he has been to this point.Murrays Paris victory at Bercy brought his 43rd career title and eighth of the season, the match win over John Isner in the final his 19th in a row.Having also won Wimbledon, the US Open, the Olympics twice and the Davis Cup, that would leave him needing just the French Open to complete a career clean sweep if he had already triumphed in Melbourne in January.With Djokovics faltering form a puzzle, it is surely time for Murray to press home his advantage. Reaching world No. 1 needs to be just the beginning.Djokovic spent 119 consecutive weeks at the top of the pile, and 220 overall, while Federer still holds the record for total weeks at No. 1, with 302, and most consecutive weeks, with 237.Murray must make sure his reign goes longer than a fortnight. Yeezy Boost 350 V2 Scontate . Barcelonas entertaining victory ensured the defending Spanish champions retained their share of the league lead with Atletico Madrid two rounds ahead of their meeting in the capital. Real Madrid needed a late goal by substitute Jese Rodriguez to earn a 3-2 victory at Valencia to stay in third place and three points behind its title rivals. Yeezy Boost 350 V2 Miglior Prezzo . Defencemen Drew Doughty, Shea Weber and forward Ryan Getzlaf also scored for the Canadians, who started their gold-medal defence 2-0. Goalie Roberto Luongo, getting the call in place of Game 1 starter Carey Price, was solid when needed in making 23 saves for the shutout. http://www.yeezy350v2italia.it/ . Third-seeded Murray had the easiest path to victory on New Years Eve, barely breaking a sweat during his 6-0, 6-0 win over 2,129th-ranked Qatari wildcard recipient Mousa Shanan Zayed. Yeezy Boost 350 V2 Negozi . But when it comes to determining if Raymond will find a place on the Leafs roster when training camp concludes in a week, well, that decision will ultimately fall to the head coach. Yeezy Boost 700 V2 Scontate . John Lucas, signed as a mentor for rookie Trey Burke, showed he can score if required, scoring 12 points of his 16 points in the second quarter as Utah built an 18-point lead. NEW YORK -- In the last month, Masahiro Tanaka has been a sure thing on the mound for the New York Yankees.Tanaka takes a five-game winning streak to the mound Saturday afternoon when the Yankees continue their playoff pursuit in the third contest of a four-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium.Tanaka is 12-4 with a 3.11 ERA. He is fourth in the American League in ERA, sixth with a 1.08 WHP, third in walks per nine innings (1.56) and fourth in strikeouts to walk ratio (4.84).The right-hander also has allowed two runs or fewer in 19-of-28 starts this season, tied for the most in the American League. He is seventh in innings at 179 1/3 and during his last 39, Tanaka is 5-0 with a 2.08 ERA.Tanakas last loss was at the New York Mets on Aug. 2, when the Yankees were 53-53, 7 1/2 games out of first place and 5 1/2 back in the wild-card race.The next day, Gary Sanchez was promoted, Alex Rodriguez played his last game the following week and since Tanakas last loss, the Yankees (75-65) are 22-12 while one game out of the second wild-card spot and four out of first.Were trying to get in, Yankees closer Dellin Betances said. Thats our goal.Tanaka allowed two runs and seven innings in 6 1/3 innings of a 5-3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday. Although this year is similar to his rookie season of 2014, Tanaka said he feels more in control even if his high standards are not quite good enough.Im not overly satisfied with the overall way of pitching, how Im pitching this year, Tanaka said. ... But this year I feel like Im more in control of myself compared to the first year. In that sense, I feel sort of a sense of maybe satisfaction compared to the first year.Tanaka will be pitching after Sanchez hit his 12th home run and Mark Teixeira belted aa grand slam in Fridays 7-4 victory that was slowed by three rain delays totaling 94 minutes.ddddddddddddThe Rays have dropped five of six since getting the first two from Toronto last weekend and clinched a non-winning season at 59-81. They increased their home run total to 190 after Logan Morrison and Steven Souza Jr. hit back-to-back homers off Michael Pineda.Were playing at Yankee Stadium, were playing Toronto, were playing in Baltimore, were going to Texas, those games are going to be packed with atmosphere, packed with people, Rays manager Kevin Cash said of the rest of the season.Tampa Bay received a laborous 2 2/3-inning outing from Blake Snell on Friday and hopes Chris Archer can continue pitching decently and give them some distance.Archer is 8-17 with a 4.06 ERA. His next loss will tie the team record set by Tanyon Sturtze, who was 4-18 in 2002.Archer has taken losses despite leading the league with 211 strikeouts.You take away the win-loss record, which is obviously not ideal, you look at the other numbers and theyre pretty good, Rays manager Kevin Cash said.Archer is 4-5 with a 3.03 ERA in his 10 starts since the All-Star break and his ERA is the lowest since it was 3.60 following his first start of the season. Archer last pitched Sunday against Toronto and allowed two runs and five hits in 6 1/3 innings with nine strikeouts.Archer is 5-4 with a 2.52 ERA in 12 career starts against the Yankees. He is 0-4 with a 3.15 ERA in his last six starts against the Yankees and last faced them Aug. 12 in New York, when he allowed Alex Rodriguezs RBI double in his final game and gave up five runs and seven hits in six innings. ' ' '