SPOTY Betting: Murray's magic means they could give him the award now

He's won Wimbledon - and he's nailed on for this year's Spoty

We're still basking in the glow from Andy Murray's Wimbledon win. Ralph Ellis explains why SPOTY is now a formality, and another US Open win comes next.

So what would Andy Murray have to do not to be Sports Personality of the Year? Short of dumping his girlfriend and running off with Ivan Lendl, or admitting that Lance Armstrong has been his sports medicine adviser, I can't imagine. Even then he might still win the vote.

He won't be at the ceremony - again - because he'll be training in Miami. But if he was on the moon it wouldn't matter. Britain's new Wimbledon champion is 1.061/18 in the Specials market this morning to go one better than last year's runner-up prize in SPOTY, and frankly the only thing I'm surprised about is that you can get a bet on it at all. As an investment for the next six months, it's three times better than the top building society rate.

Who could rival becoming the man who ended a 77-year-wait for a home Centre Court hero? Chris Froome if he wins the Tour de France? Sorry, Chris, but Bradley Wiggins beat you to it a year ago. Alastair Cook for winning the Ashes? If he makes 300 not out in every Test, wins the series 5-0, and for good measure opens the bowling, it still won't add up. US Open champion Justin Rose? Not even if he also wins The Open at Muirfield and tops it off with the USPGA.

Murray's performance at Wimbledon on Sunday was magnificent, but that was in keeping with his whole fortnight. There's little doubt he was still feeling twinges from the back injury that stopped him playing the French Open. You could see it every so often in his movement, a small grimace of pain. He never mentioned it once, never tried to have an excuse ready, always insisted he was fully fit.

If last year there were a host of contenders for SPOTY in the glow of an Olympic summer, then this time there is only one. And the way Murray has handled the aftermath of his victory has been almost as impressive as the win itself. Yesterday he got up, walked his dogs - and then patiently went through interview after interview for TV, radio, papers, internet outlets, Uncle Tom Cobley and all. He took time to answer every question, pose for every photo. More important he was already talking about his next targets and ambitions.

His coach Ivan Lendl, not a man who gives out plaudits lightly, says today that the Scot has already done enough to be regarded as the world's number one player, even if the rankings won't show that. In theory it is possible for Murray to close a 3,000 point gap to Novak Djokovic at the top of the ATP listings, but in practice he's lost too many points during the clay court season when he was injured.  The Serb remains all but certain to justify his current position as 1.222/9 favourite to end the season as number one.

That doesn't matter because Murray has now scored a massive psychological blow against Djokovic with a second win over the Serb in a Grand Slam final. The two will go head-to-head again in the US Open, where Murray already looks value at 3.1511/5 to be a winner again.

Meanwhile the Beeb can save everybody a lot of time and trouble and give him SPOTY now. The ceremony will be only about who is runner-up.