Andy Murray’s set for final feat

He looks calm and relaxed. He says he is as fit as he can be at the end of a long season. Everyone knows he has, at some point in his career, beaten all of the players on display at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals this week and now that he is making his fourth consecutive appearance at the end-of-season jamboree, he knows exactly what to expect in the coming days. All the same, it is best not to mess with Andy Murray at the moment.

The current world No.3 has only lost two matches since August and as he approaches the Tour Finals, he is challenging for his sixth trophy of the season. Just a month ago, he picked up three titles in three weeks on the Asian swing of the tour.

Even so, Roger Federer, right, was unimpressed and in his smooth, suave and startlingly arrogant way, he decided to have a gentle pop at the local hero a couple of days back.

Never one of Murray’s greatest fans – their relationship cooled dramatically when Murray started beating the Swiss with surprising regularity a few years ago – he damned the Scot’s recent achievements with faint praise, suggesting that Murray was, as they say in the east end of London, not all that and a bag of chips.

“I’m not taking anything away from Asia, but was Asia the strongest this year?” Federer mused. “I’m not sure. Novak wasn’t there, I wasn’t there – I played in the [Shanghai] final last year – and Rafa lost early, but it was a good effort by him.”

Of course, Federer omitted to mention that it was Murray who sploshed him in that Shanghai final last year. Nor did he mention that Nadal was torn apart by Murray in the Japan Open final in the middle of that Asian swing.

But Federer has always been economical with the facts when it suits his argument. And he loves to put down Murray at every opportunity. Murray himself was not about to get into a slanging match with the Swiss, but he was keen to point out that he had never done anything to ruffle the mighty one’s feathers. Well, other than beat him, that is. But he was not taking that sort of cheek from anyone – not even a former world No.1 and the holder of 16 grand slam trophies.

“I don’t know all of the stuff that has been said,” Murray said. “I try to keep away from that as much as possible. Everyone is entitled to say what they want but I am happy with the year that I have had.

“I always try, if I can, to be as positive about all the other players. For me, I have always said that Roger is obviously one of the best players ever to play and I love having the chance to compete against him. There is nothing else for me to say on that.”

Yet there was just one more point Murray wished to make before the matter was closed.

“Hopefully, I will get a chance to play against him this week and we can let our tennis do the talking,” he said. It was not exactly a challenge to fisticuffs but it did reveal a lot about Murray’s state of mind. He is playing some of the best tennis of his life at the moment and there is absolutely no one who can frighten him on a tennis court – particularly not Federer.

“I always really enjoyed the challenge of playing against him since the first time I played against him in Bangkok [in 2005],” Murray said. “I always felt I had a chance against him.”

Murray and Federer are the form horses coming into the tournament – Federer is skipping lightly towards the O2 Arena in London’s east end on the back of consecutive wins in Basel and Paris, while Scotland’s finest deposed Federer from the No.3 ranking position a few weeks earlier by winning those three titles in Asia.

Then again, Novak Djokovic has no need to prove his credentials after racking up one of the most successful seasons in the history of the sport (69 wins, four losses and ten trophies collected). His only worry is whether his aching shoulder will survive another five matches – after winning everything in sight for the first nine months of the year, he is running on empty and his body is beginning to rebel.

As for Rafael Nadal, he missed the last Masters event of the year in Paris in order to prepare for the Tour Finals and the Davis Cup final in a couple of weeks’ time. He may be a little ring rusty after a month away from the courts but he ought to have enough fuel in the tank for one last, huge push this season.

All in all, then, it is business as usual for the world’s top four men. Murray will begin his campaign against David Ferrer tomorrow but the serious money is backing one of the Big Four to walk away with the silverware and, potentially, a cheque for $1.6 million (£1m).

It was winning the Davis Cup final in 2010 at home in Belgrade that paved the way for Djokovic to have his historic season this year and the Serb can see similarities between himself and Murray, his old pal from his junior days. To win the Tour Finals this year might just clear the path for a grand slam victory next year.

“I’ve maybe made that mental switch,” Djokovic said. “I have maybe more self-belief on the court that I can win major events, that I can win the matches that I’ve been losing in past years. Andy has played a couple of Grand Slam finals already and he’s been in the top four of the world in the last couple of years, so I’m sure that he wants a grand slam title at this moment in time more than anybody.

“I’m sure he will make it because he has a quality to do so. He has won so many big events, he has won against all the best players in the world. He’s a complete player that can perform on this surface as well as all the other surfaces, so that gives me enough reason to believe he can do it.”

But, if Murray does do it, don’t put your money on Federer being the first to heap praise upon his shoulders.

SCHEDULE

GROUP A

Novak Djokovic

Andy Murray

David Ferrer

Thomas Berdych

GROUP B

Rafael Nadal

Roger Federer

J-W Tsonga

Mardy Fish

TODAY

Federer (4) v Tsonga (6) Not before 2pm

Nadal (2) v Fish (8) Not before 8pm

TOMORROW

Murray (3) v Ferrer (5) Not before 2pm

Djokovic (1) v Berdych (7) Not before 8pm

FORMAT

Players from each group play each other once and top two from each group progress to semi-finals. Final is next Sunday.