LONDON -- Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal face serious doubts about their futures, but Andy Murray hopes they stay competing at the top of the game.The men, with a combined 27 major titles between them, both missed the Tour Finals.Federer, 35, played just seven tournaments in 2016 and cut short his season in July in hopes of fully recovering from knee surgery.Nadals year was also beset by injury. The Spaniard, 30, tearfully pulled out with a wrist injury from the French Open -- where he has won nine titles -- and prematurely ended his season last month after struggling at the US Open.This year I think has been hard in some ways, because of Roger and Rafa missing large parts of the year, Murray said in a news conference after beating Novak Djokovic in the World Tour final to secure the year-end No. 1 ranking.They have massive fan bases, the two of them, not just for everything theyve achieved on the court, but because theyre obviously charismatic guys and are very, very popular. Thats been tough this year.However, with Federer and Nadals careers seemingly winding down, and Djokovic falling below the extremely high standards he has set himself, there is a prospect we could be seeing the birth of the Andy Murray Era.Never given that any thought at all, Murray said. Id obviously want to try and achieve as much as I can these next few years because Im not going to be around forever. Im not going to be able to play at this level and play this many matches into my mid-30s.But its going to be tough because as you get older, the young guys are going to keep improving and getting better. Theres some really good young ones now.Milos Raonic is the obvious candidate from the pack to challenge the established Slam champions. The 25-year-old, who ended the year ranked a career-high No. 3, was narrowly beaten by Murray in a record 3 hours, 38 minutes in the London semifinals. So gutting was the defeat, Raonic appeared to have been crying when he sat down for his news conference.But for now, Murray could be set for a lengthy stay at No. 1, as Djokovic has a lot of points to defend in the first half of next season.The Serb dominated the first five months of 2016, winning titles at Qatar, the Australian Open, Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Roland Garros.Its taken a huge effort the last five, six months to get there [to No. 1], said Murray. I would like to stay there. Im aware thats going to be extremely difficult because I had a great year this year. I only managed to do it by one match. To repeat that again next year is going to be extremely difficult. Cheap Jordan 6 Mens Cheap Authentic Jordan 11 .Y. -- Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone has drawn on his Syracuse connections once again by hiring Rob Moore to take over as receivers coach. http://www.wholesalejordan11.com/discount-jordan-11.html . One game after a miserable showing in Oklahoma City, Gay tied a career high with 41 points and the Sacramento Kings cruised to a 114-97 victory at the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night. Jordan 6 Shoes For Cheap .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Jordan 11 On Sale Authentic . Cuban testified Thursday that he was upset when the companys CEO told him news that would reduce the value of his shares, for which hed paid $7.5 million. But he said he did nothing improper when he sold those shares over the next two days. MONROE, La. -- Nick Coppola scored 23 points as Louisiana Monroe beat Jacksonville St. 88-83 in overtime on Saturday night.The Warhawks (3-5) led throughout the overtime period and Coppola took it to 84-78 on a pair of free throws with 49 seconds to play. Jacksonville State cut the lead to three, 84-81, with 39 seconds remaining but Sam McDaniel and Marcus Washington combined for four at the line in the final seconds keep the Warhawks on top.Travis Munnings scored 19 points, McDaniel added 17 points with 12 rebounds and Washiington had 13 points.ddddddddddddCoppola and Marvin Jean-Pierre sank back-to-back 3-pointers to extend the Warhawks four-point lead at the break to 68-58 with 4:36 left in regulation. The Gamecocks (5-5) battled back to tie it 72-72 on a Malcolm Drumwright layup with 54 seconds to go and it held, sending the game into overtime.Norbertas Giga and Tyrik Edwards had 18 points apiece for the Gamecocks. ' ' '
