NEWSPost India

Day 3 and we are in the thick of it big time. This is the beauty of the round-robin format and of getting the best eight players together in an exclusive event. The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals has a marquee showdown between two favourites every time they walk on the court and two others, who despite being 0-1 in group play, are FAR from out of the event.

1. Serving Is Key: Murray served very well on Day 1 against Soderling. He’ll need to repeat that performance against Fed, especially with his second serve. Fed’s serve is very reliable but an extra good day of serving might give him a few extra short points on serve which will increase his confidence and also give him more reserves to play cat and mouse with Murray when appropriate.

2. Body Blows: Murray loves to force his opponent to take undue risks. Fed will need to know that playing the ball down the middle of the court takes pressure off his own shot making and will force Murray to step up and take the initiative offensively, which is not his preferred style. Fed will have to aspire to make Murray uncomfortable. If Fed plays the court (which works against most everyone else) instead of Murray, he will have to be extra sharp!

3. Mind Over Murray: Murray is temperamental and conventional wisdom tells us that should be a liability against the great Federer. However, much like McEnroe when playing Borg, Murray knows he has little mental wiggle room and stays a bit more controlled upstairs. Conversely, Fed knows that Murray is comfortable against him and must overcome those mental hurdles that his stoicism conceals.

Prediction: This could be a great one…I like Fed in two tie-breaks.