Murray: “I Want To Do Myself Justice"
Murray: “I Want To Do Myself Justice"
Will Murray clinch his first title at season finale?
Having this week conquered the truest test of real quality and consistency, the ascent to No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, will this year’s Barclays ATP World Tour Finals be a glorious homecoming for Andy Murray?
The Scot has competed at the prestigious season finale on seven occasions, but only three times has he graced the semi-finals: in 2008 (l. to Davydenko), when the event was held in Shanghai, China, and in 2010 (l. to Nadal) and 2012 (l. to Federer) at The O2 in London.
“It’s been a great year and I want to finish as well as I can,” said Murray. “I’m not so much thinking about finishing as the World No. 1. I just want to play well at The O2. I’ve not always played well there and I want to do myself justice.”
In his past two Barclays ATP World Tour Finals appearances, Murray has gone 2-4 and hasn’t progressed through the round-robin stage. But the 2016 season finale could have a very different outcome for Murray, who is riding a 19-match winning streak, including four straight ATP World Tour titles.
“Maybe this year will be different to the last one,” said Murray. “I’ve always gone into London trying to do well, and it’s never quite happened for me but I’ve had a couple of tough losses. Against Rafa [Nadal] in the semis once, and one year [2014] I was really trying to chase the points to get in there and I played probably too much to do that. I am looking forward to it.”
Murray also has an impressive 11-1 (.917) indoor record this year, with his only loss coming to Juan Martin del Potro in a five-set Davis Cup semi-final rubber in September.
But on Monday, Murray was drawn to compete next week in Group John McEnroe, alongside Stan Wawrinka (9-7 FedEx ATP Head2Head record), Kei Nishikori (7-2) and Marin Cilic (11-3).
While he has an 11-5 record against Top 10 opponents this year, his losses have come to Djokovic (Australian Open, Roland Garros, Madrid), Nadal (Monte-Carlo) and Nishikori (US Open). He also lost to then World No. 14 Cilic in Cincinnati.
With Ivan Lendl and Jamie Delgado, his good friend, courtside at The O2, nothing will be left to chance in Murray’s dual quest for the title and year-end No. 1 ranking. Destiny will be in his own hands, because if he wins the title he is guaranteed to finish No. 1.