Andy Murray learnt yesterday that his failure to reach last week’s semi-finals at the O2 arena and his decision to play an exhibition rather than join the tour in the first week of January could make his pursuit of an elusive first grand-slam tournament title harder.
In the final rankings of the year, Murray is at No 4 with Juan Martín del Potro, the US Open champion from Argentina, 245 points behind him at No 5. The British No 1 would have been defending the 250 ranking points he earned for winning the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha 11 months ago, had he not agreed to partner Laura Robson in the A$1 million (about £550,000) Hyundai Hopman Cup, a mixed event in Perth, which clashes with the Doha tournament.
As it is, when the ATP rankings of January 11 are issued — on which the seedings for the Australian Open will be taken — and the 250 points have been wiped from Murray’s account, Del Potro will overhaul him by five points and will be seeded No 4 in Melbourne. That may leave the Scot vulnerable to having to play three of the top four in the final stages of next year’s first grand-slam tournament.
How Murray must be ruing his failure to make semi-finals at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in southeast London, which came down to a one-game margin between him and Del Potro once the percentage of games won in the three matches was calculated.
Murray had 21 opportunities at game point that he failed to take to earn a place in the last four, and thus deny Del Potro the chance to get as close as he has in the rankings.
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Murray and Robson will be only the fourth British team to enter the Hopman Cup in its 20-year history and the first since Jeremy Bates and Jo Durie in 1992.