Andy Murray has accepted he will lose his number one ranking after rocky 2017 campaign

Sir Andy Murray has accepted he is going to lose his No. 1 ranking but insists he is motivated by winning titles rather than retaining his status as the world’s best player.

The Brit reached the pinnacle at the end of last year following a stunning 28-match unbeaten streak that saw him overtake Novak Djokovic after his victory at the ATP World Tour Finals in London.

However, he was plagued by health problems after the turn of the year as he struggled to overcome shingles and an elbow injury that impacted his performances.

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Murray regained some form at the French Open by reaching the semi-finals and is now preparing for the grass-court season with Queen’s and Wimbledon on the agenda.

Rafael Nadal moved up to second in the standings after winning for a tenth time in Paris at the weekend while Roger Federer is still No. 5 following his decision to withdraw from the French.

Murray is looking to defend his Wimbledon crown at SW19 and strengthen his place at the top of the game – but it is silverware rather than points that motivate him.

“It’s most likely that I’ll lose the number one spot,” an honest Murray told Yahoo Sport UK. “Nobody has kept it forever and it will inevitably happen at some stage.

“If you want to stay at number one you can’t have periods of three or four months in the year where you are not winning matches and not performing well in the big events, which is the case for me from February really through to the French Open.

“It’s more than likely that it will happen, which is fine, I’m not trying to win Wimbledon for rankings points. To win Wimbledon is my goal and I’ll try to prepare properly to do that.

“The French Open was a good start but that’s just one tournament. At the end of last year I was able to keep a level of consistency for five or six months and that’s what I want to get back to now.

“You’re not going to win every match that you play but I was competing every single week and that’s what I want to get back. The grass is a surface that I love playing on.”

Murray, who was speaking at the launch of the Jaguar XF Sportbrake in London, is enjoying a rare extended spell back in the UK and feels his performance at the French Open shows he has turned a corner.

“We don’t usually get periods where we have five or six weeks at home in a row, but I also enjoy the travelling,” he added.

“One of the great things that we get to do is to travel all over the world and see all of the great cities.

“I was starting to win some matches at the French when I wasn’t playing well. I’m still quite a long way from where I would like my game to be so I was back on the practice court quite quickly after Paris.

“I was making better decisions on the court though and finding ways to get through matches. When you play a lot of matches you gain in confidence.”