Hard Work Pays off for Andy Murray in Sealing World Tour Finals Berth

Six straight weeks of constant tournament play for Andy Murray has finally yielded the desired result, as the British No. 1 booked his place at the ATP end-of-season extravaganza at London’s O2 Arena on Thursday.

The two-time Grand Slam champion comfortably dismantled Grigor Dimitrov 6-3 6-3 in the third round of the Paris Masters to confirm his participation at the World Tour Finals for the seventh straight year (excluding 2013 when he was injured).

That victory was No. 20 in 22 matches over a gruelling period of six weeks where Murray has journeyed around Asia and then Europe in desperate search of ranking points.

Murray has tried to maintain throughout this surge in form that qualifying for London was not at the top of his priority list.

After his loss to Novak Djokovic in the U.S. Open quarter-finals, he commented to the Press Association (h/t the Daily Mail):

"

It [The World Tour Finals] was not a massive goal of mine. It's obviously nice to qualify for it. It's a good tournament. I've played a number of years and enjoyed it.But I'll play the right schedule. I won't overplay just to try to qualify.

"

Yet, the mammoth and slightly crazy schedule that he has played has indicated otherwise.

The opening three weeks of the six were all in Asia, with Murray accepting wild cards in ATP 250 and 500 events in Shenzhen and Beijing respectively. The Scot claimed the title at the former (his first of 2014), magnificently saving five match points against Tommy Robredo in the final.

Then, in the Chinese capital, he was again taken out by the Serbian world No. 1 Djokovic. This time, though, it was at the semi-final stage.

At the Masters 1000 event in Shanghai the following week, Murray was ousted by fellow London contender David Ferrer in the third round. Thus far, that has certainly been the worst he has played in this six-week rampage. Still, valuable points and match wins were collected by the former Wimbledon champion over the Asian swing.

If we weren’t absolutely positive over his desire to appear in front of his home crowd in London, more wild-card entries into smaller indoor events in Vienna and Valencia would have done it.

The Briton avenged that loss to Ferrer in Shanghai by defeating the pesky Spaniard at both tournaments. In the Austrian capital, Murray downed Ferrer in a barnstorming, three-set final that ebbed and flowed, back and forth.

A third title in five weeks followed in the autumn warmth of Valencia for Murray. He bested Ferrer in a slightly more straightforward semi-final before another stunning encounter with Tommy Robredo in the final.

Once again, the Scot fought off five match points and clinched tie breaks in the second and third sets to triumph. Both were physically spent by the conclusion of the match which lasted three hours and 20 minutes, the longest ATP final of the season so far.

What was even more remarkable was that it was the climax of Murray’s fifth tournament in as many weeks. Robredo was able to have a hilarious passive-aggressive joke with his opponent at the net after the contest.

That victory all but sealed his spot at the World Tour Finals, and that was mathematically confirmed by routine wins over Julien Benneteau and Dimitrov in Paris.

Murray thoroughly deserves his place among the ATP’s elite eight after those six weeks of hard graft, commitment and utmost belief. 2014 has been a real struggle at times, but he has knuckled down of late and found an extremely solid, dependable level of tennis.

The real difference in form seems to be that he knows what he wants to do with the ball when on the court. As ever, his groundstrokes from the baseline are so secure. He’s willing to go deep in rallies, moving his opponent around the court, more often than not with precision over power.

He is mixing up his serve very well: sometimes he’ll slice one down the centre or out wide, or he’ll hammer the ball down in either direction too. Against Dimitrov, he won an impressive 27 of 29 first-serve points and didn’t face a break point in the match.

Going into London, Murray is certainly a strong contender to win the event based on his current form. He is still clearly behind the No. 1 and No. 2 Serb-Swiss combo of Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer for the favourite tag though, both of whom he is yet to beat in 2014. Djokovic has three wins over the Scot this campaign, while the 17-time Slam champion has two.

But Murray hadn’t defeated Bulgarian stud Dimitrov this year before coming to Bercy this week. So there are signs that he’s making progress and is able to defeat players in and around the top 10 more than at the start of the season.

He is creeping up on the heels of Stan Wawrinka right now for his place at No. 4 in the rankings. The Swiss No. 2’s results have been frankly woeful in the past few weeks. He’s won one of his last five matches, losing to his first opponent in Tokyo, Shanghai and Basel before going out to Kevin Anderson in Round 3 in Paris.

The Australian Open champion will need to significantly step up his level if he is to challenge at the O2 Arena or indeed win rubbers for his country in the Davis Cup final.

Murray said to BBC Sport after he beat David Ferrer in Vienna:

"

Obviously, London would be very nice if I can get there but it's also important for seedings at the Australian Open. To be seeded in the top eight there can make a big difference to the draw and hopefully I will be able to do that.

"

A couple of weeks down the line, he may have even higher expectations of himself as 2014 comes to an end. He’s propelled himself up to No. 5 in the race (as of 30 October, via Live-Tennis.eu), meaning that there’s a strong possibility he could extend the “Big Three” to the “Big Four” once again and not face one of Roger, Novak or Rafael Nadal until at least the semis at the 2015 Australian Open.

One concern for the Olympic champion though is that he may have run himself into the ground working so hard to actually qualify for the ATP’s season-ending tournament over the past six weeks. Yet, nothing evaporates tiredness more than confidence and winning, and Murray has had that in abundance of late.

He will be immensely match-tight going into London, which always helps on big points in important matches, as they all are at the World Tour Finals. This season there’s also a week in between the tournaments in the French and English capitals, which will give the Scot a well-earned breather.

It’s undoubtedly going to be fascinating to see how Murray’s game will match up with the other players at the top of the ATP Tour when London calls come 9 November. He’s certainly playing well enough at the moment though to do some serious damage in front of his home crowd. The real Andy Murray is close to a return.