Andy Murray is hoping that home comforts will help him capture the prestigious ATP Tour Finals crown at the O2 Arena in London next week.
The British number one will benefit from home advantage when he battles it out against the seven other best players in the world over the next week.
Murray enjoys home crowd favouritism at Wimbledon, and believes he will enjoy the same backing as he did both at SW19 and at the O2 in last year’s event.
“The pressure is pretty much the same and the home crowd really does make a difference,” said Murray at a media Q&A session in London.
“Every tennis player will tell you when you play at home it really helps you to have the crowd behind you.
“Everyone knows it’s a huge tournament, it’s nice to be around the top guys in such a great event, and I hope to make it back and qualify for it for years to come.
“The venue is going to be great, as it was last year, the atmosphere was brilliant and we had full crowds for almost all of the matches and they’re expecting it to be the same again.”
Murray won two out of three matches at the O2 last year, but went out agonisingly on games difference, but that disappointment will not change his mentality this time around.
Rankings
“Last year won’t change my approach, I always just go out to try and win tennis matches and I’m not going to start thinking about games won, I just want to go out and win the matches, if you win two you should be okay.”
Robin Soderling is first up in the round-robin phase for Murray, with the Swede taking over at world number three after winning the recent Paris Masters, but rankings are not at the top of Murray’s thoughts.
“The rankings are not a major deal, I still have a chance of finishing three anyway with a good tournament here. You have to beat the best to win grand slams anyway and I don’t think the rankings will stop you doing that.
“He (Soderling) is a big guy, he’s a big hitter and very dangerous, and he’s the man in form at the moment after winning in Paris.”
Murray is in no doubt as to the size of the event, with the tournament right up there with the best around due to only the top eight players being involved.
“All the players at the start of the year want to try and make it to this event as it shows you’ve had a great year. It’s similar to the Masters events but here all the players are in good form coming into the tournament and there are no easy matches.
“I feel fresh mentally and physically but I’m going to have to play at my very best to have a chance of winning against these great players.
“You can’t predict who’s going to win a tournament like this and that’s what makes it so special.”
