Andy Murray will be looking to make a fast start when he takes on Spain's David Ferrer in the opening Group A match at the ATP World Tour Finals on Monday afternoon.
Murray will be secretly happy with the way the schedule has played out. Ferrer may be the world number five but he's at his weakest indoors and Murray will be able to play himself into the event. They met in the round-robin stages last year with Murray winning easily 6-2, 6-2 to book his place in the semi-finals.
As ever when he plays the Spaniard he'll have to be prepared to do plenty of running but he's already beaten him three times this year, in the Australian Open semi-finals and most recently in the Shanghai Masters final.
As you would expect, Murray was keen to emphasize the strength of the event at the pre-tournament media press conferences. "None of the matches are easy and there's no group you're going to get that's going to be much better than the other one," he said. "I've played well against Ferrer on hard courts in the past but he's made the final before [in 2007] and he has won tournaments on indoor hard courts."
"You have to be right on your game from the first match. It's going to be a tough draw, with long points and long matches. As long as I finish the year playing good tennis, that makes a difference going into the off-season."
