Andy Murray ready to throw everything at Novak Djokovic in battle for top spot
Andy Murray will give everything he has left against Novak Djokovic on Sunday and hope it is enough.
The top two players in the world will do battle for the number one spot in a fitting climax to the season at the ATP World Tour Finals after reaching the O2 Arena showdown in contrasting fashion.
Djokovic, who came into the tournament on his worst run of form for several years, certainly has the spark back and demolished Kei Nishikori 6-1 6-1 in just an hour and six minutes.
That was a full two hours and 32 minutes less than it took Murray to battle past Milos Raonic 5-7 7-6 (7/5) 7-6 (11/9) in one of the most extraordinary contests of the year.
Four days after his three-hours-and-20-minutes epic against Nishikori, Murray again broke the record for the longest three-set match in the history of the tournament.
The Scot no doubt would rather not have his name inked in the history books in this way for, as remarkable an athlete as he is, he has surely severely compromised his chances of lifting the trophy and therefore holding onto top spot.
Murray immediately went into recovery mode, spending 10 minutes in the ice bath before a session of stretching and a massage from physio Shane Annun.
He said: I don't know how I'll feel tomorrow. Obviously I'm tired just now because it was a really hard match. It wasn't just that it was physically hard, it was mentally a tough match, too. It was pretty stressful.
I was quite far behind obviously in the second set. A set and a break down, I managed to turn it round. Then it was back and forth in the third set.
Obviously tomorrow is the last day for a while, I get a break after that. I'll just give my best of what I've got. Hopefully it's enough.''