Murray began his year at the Hopman Cup, where alongside Heather Watson they won two out of three matches.
Fast forward to the Australian Open where Murray beat the likes of David Ferrer and Milos Raonic to set up a fourth final encounter against Novak Djokovic – which the Serb won in three sets.
After coming close to winning a third Grand Slam title, his first in Australia, Murray didn’t compete in February. As we’ll discover later, choosing to conserve energy early in the year would prove to be a wise move.
Following a training break Murray returned to action in the Davis Cup, winning both the matches he played representing Great Britain against Japan. On the ATP Tour Murray would reach the third rounds of the Indian Wells Masters and the Miami Open – losing two tight contests in three sets.
Back to winning ways in April, where Murray set up a semi-final clash with Rafael Nadal in the Monte-Carlo Masters. Despite taking the first set, the King of Clay would eventually come back to win 2-6, 6-4, 6-2. Murray wouldn’t have to wait long to get his revenge, though.
In his next outing at the Madrid Open Murray progressed to the semi-finals where he again met Nadal. This time the Brit would triumph in straight set, 7-5, 6-4, to meet Djokovic in the final.
The Serb – as he did on many occasions in 2016 – got the better of Murray in the final winning 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. But Murray would get his revenge later that month beating Djokovic in the final of the Italian Open, winning in straight sets.
In the last event of the clay court season – Roland Garros – Murray continued his good form, defeating an array of difficult opponents, namely Richard Gasquet and Stan Wawrinka, to reach the final. Waiting for him (again) was Djokovic and although Murray took the first set the Serb would have the last laugh again triumphing 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.
In his next event back on his favourite surface, grass, Murray won the Aegon Championships at the Queen’s Club where he beat Raonic in the final for a record-breaking fifth event win. Roll on Wimbledon!
The big one. After straight-sets victories over Liam Broady, Lu Yen-hsun, John Millman and Nick Kyrgios, Murray reached his ninth consecutive quarter-final at The Championships, Wimbledon.
He then defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in five sets, having been two sets up, to progress to the semi-final where he beat Tomáš Berdych to reach his third Grand Slam final of 2016.
For the first time in a Slam final, Murray's opponent was neither Djokovic nor Federer, but Raonic, who he beat in straight sets.
Murray chose not to play in the quarter-final of a Davis Cup World Group against Serbia, which Great Britain team won anyway, as he travelled to Rio de Janeiro to defend the Olympic title he won in London in 2016.
Murray did that by beating Juan Martin Del Potro in the final in four sets, to become the first male player to win two singles gold medals and to successfully defend an Olympic singles title.
After his Wimbledon and Olympic successes Murray competed in the Cincinnati Masters, where he reached the final before being beaten by Marin Čilić.
For the first time in 2016 Murray didn’t advance past the quarter-final of a Grand Slam. In the US Open he was edged out in a five-set thriller by Kei Nishikori, losing 1-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5.
Despite this set back Murray travelled back to the UK to compete in a Davis Cup World Group match five days later against Argentina, when he won one match and lost another. Little did he know, this would be the last match he’d lose in 2016.
In October Murray won 14 consecutive matches to claim three titles: the China Open, Shanghai Masters and Vienna Open. During those contests Murray only dropped two sets, and beat the likes of Ferrer, Grigor Dimitrov and Tsonga.
A red-hot Murray travelled to France to continue his streak at the Paris Masters. Despite being pushed hard in three-set matches against Fernando Verdasco and John Isner, the Brit collected his eighth trophy of the campaign to oust Djokovic as the new World No.1.
With his status as the most in-form player in the sport confirmed, Murray went to London for the ATP Tour finals where he defeated the No. 2 (Djokovic), No. 3 (Wawrinka), No. 4 (Raonic), No. 5 (Nishikori), and No. 7 (Cilic) in five consecutive matches to win the season-ending event for the first time.
And…rest. Nine titles. 78 matches won. Prize money of $16,327,821 collected. An incredible season, from an incredible player.