Tuesday 4 November 2014 17:38, UK
Scotland’s Andy Murray has been drawn with Roger Federer, Kei Nishikori and Milos Raonic in Group B of next week’s ATP World Tour Finals.
The prestigious tournament will take place at London’s O2 Arena from November 9-16 and features eight of the world’s top nine players, with only world No. 3 Rafael Nadal absent through injury.
Top seed Novak Djokovic, Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka, Czech Tomas Berdych and Marin Cilic of Croatia are in Group A.
Murray and Federer have each won 11 of their career meetings while the Scot has a 3-0 winning record against Nishikori but trails Raonic 3-1 in their head-to-head.
Sky Sports pundit Mark Petchey believes Murray will fancy his chances of progressing from his group and thinks he will be pleased to have avoided Djokovic, who has defeated him on four consecutive occasions.
“I think Andy is going to be pretty happy that he hasn’t got Djokovic in his group,” Petchey told Sky Sports News HQ.
“Djokovic has been unbeaten for a couple of years now indoors – I think he is on a 27-match win streak – so he is clearly the man to beat out there.
“Murray has a fair record against Federer, a winning record against Nishikori and not so good against Raonic but I think he won’t mind that particular battle when it comes down to it.”
After an indifferent start to a season marred by injuries, Murray played 23 matches over the past six weeks and won three tournaments in order to secure his place in London.
Petchey believes Murray’s hectic schedule over the last few weeks will actually stand to him and he expects the 27-year-old to play well in London as a result.
I don’t think you can underestimate how big it is going to be for him to get into the world’s top four ahead of Australia.
“A lot of people felt after his loss to Novak at the US Open that he was going to have too much to do with the all the flying involved and the matches he needed to win,” he said.
“It hasn’t been smooth progress but it has been tremendous in terms of the matches he has under his belt heading into the finals.
“I feel he is going to be so match-fit and making great decisions on the court, I actually think it is going to be a benefit.
“He is super-motivated to beat these guys. These are the guys he has to beat next year to win the Slams and that was the big reason for getting to London plus obviously the points on offer.”
Murray enters the tournament ranked at number six in the world with 4,475 ATP points but he could jump to fourth above Wawrinka – who has 4,895 points – if results go his way and Petchey believes that will provide huge motivation for him.
“I don’t think you can underestimate how big it is going to be for him to get into the world’s top four ahead of Australia,” Petchey said.
“We saw in New York on Sky when he had to face Novak in the quarter-finals. You want to be taking those guys on later on in the semis.
“If he can get into the top four he can stay away from those guys.”
The top two players in each group will progress to the semi-finals, with the group standings based initially on match wins, although it can come down to the percentage of games won or even world rankings as the final tie-breaker.
ATP World Tour Finals Draw
Group A: (1) Djokovic, (4) Wawrinka, (7) Berdych, (9) Cilic
Group B: (2) Federer, (5) Nishikori, (6) Murray, (8) Raonic
