ANDY Murray is relishing playing in front of great home support as he looks to emerge from a tough group in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.
Murray has been drawn with world No1 Roger Federer, US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro and Spain's Fernando Verdasco in Group A for the showpiece event at the 02 Arena in London. Group B features Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Nikolay Davydenko a
nd Robin Soderling.
Soderling initially failed to qualify for the prestigious eight-man event, but was handed a place when Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick was forced to pull out through injury.
Murray has a superb record against Federer, winning six of their nine matches, and will be keen to bounce back from an early exit from the Paris Masters last week.
"In my group, Federer is the best in the world, Del Potro has won the US Open and Verdasco has just had his best season to date. There are no easy matches regardless of what group you're in," the world No4 said. "At the end of your career you're remembered for grand slams, but to win something like this, you have to beat five of the best players in the world in consecutive matches if you want to lift the trophy, which is a very difficult thing to do. You might even have to beat a Federer or a Nadal twice, so it's a very tough thing to win.
"Obviously I look forward to playing Roger. I've played Juan a few times on the tour recently and also had a close match recently with Verdasco indoors in Valencia (which he won on his way to a sixth title of the year]. It's a tough group but if I play well, I think I have a good chance of qualifying."
Murray, whose last appearance on home soil ended in Great Britain's Davis Cup defeat to Poland in Liverpool, added: "It should be great. The O2 Arena is pretty amazing. There's a great atmosphere and with the quality of players it should make for a great occasion and hopefully I can play well. You are guaranteed Roger or Rafa playing three times, no matter if they win or lose, that's the plus side. From the very first match you get to see the top eight players against each other, which doesn't happen elsewhere in the year. It's nice to be able to spend time at home because we do spend a lot of time travelling."
The round-robin group format will decide the four players who advance to the semi-finals, with the group winners kept apart in the last four.
All singles matches will be the best of three tie-break sets and start on Sunday. The final is scheduled for 29 November with a first prize of £460,000, although that rises to more than £950,000 if the champion remains undefeated throughout.
