Andy Murray had achieved this honour. Murray was knighted in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to tennis and charity. He opened the season with a loss in the semi-finals of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship to David Goffin, following which he won against Milos Raonic in the third-place play-off. Murray then reached the final of the Qatar Open, but lost to Novak Djokovic in three sets despite saving three championship points. At the Australian Open he lost in the fourth round against Mischa Zverev in four sets. Murray returned to action at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships event in
2016 Andy Murray tennis season set and double-break down to beat Benoît Paire, reaching his first quarter-final since the Australian Open. There he beat Raonic for the second time in the year, losing just two games in the match, but lost to eventual champion Rafael Nadal in the semi-final. Murray also competed in the doubles with partner Dominic Inglot, reaching the quarter finals before losing to Herbert and Nicolas Mahut. Murray arrived in Madrid as the defending champion, and defeated Radek Štěpánek, Gilles Simon and Tomáš Berdych on the way to a second semi-final of the year against Nadal, this time winning in straight sets.