Andy Murray vows not to flop in London again as Brit bids to stay at World No 1

Andy Murray admits that there have been times when he has felt 'fried' coming into the last event of the tennis season.

His relatively average record at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals backs that up, but then he has never entered with the buoyancy of the world No 1 status that was officially accorded to him on Monday.

Murray awoke at his Surrey home atop the world rankings, but by mid-afternoon was given a stiff reminder that his new position is no guarantee of receiving a preferable draw.

Instead, the four man John McEnroe Group he finds himself in could hardly have worked out more difficult. By contrast Novak Djokovic – heading the inappropriately named Ivan Lendl Group – could not have asked for a more benign trio of opponents that were available.

At least the 29-year-old Scot feels more ready for the challenge at an event where he has never got past the semi-finals in seven previous attempts.

'For the last couple of years the circumstances have been a bit trickier,' said Murray, who plans to rest until resuming practice on Thursday.

'Last year I was getting ready for the Davis Cup final and preparing on clay, it's not the right way to prepare if you're trying to win it against the best players.

'So this year maybe will be different to the last one. I've always gone into London trying to do well, and it's never quite happened for me.

'I've had a couple of tough losses, Rafa in the semis once, and one year (2014) I was really trying to chase the points to get in there and I played probably too much - by the time I got there I was a bit fried.

'I've never really played well there so the first part is to try to play good tennis. Being No 1 doesn't guarantee wins against the best players.'

In the past two years at The O2 Murray has lost to two of his group opponents, Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori. Third man Marin Cilic – against whom he kicks off on Monday night – is at a career-high ranking of No 7.

By contrast Novak Djokovic, who Murray must match or better to hold on to number one, has a 23-0 aggregate record against his three opponents.

One of them, Milos Raonic, may not be fit to play and could be replaced by Tomas Berdych, while the other two, French crowdpleaser Gael Monfils and Austrian Dominic Thiem, are first-time qualifiers.

Jamie Murray and Brazilian partner Bruno Soares have long been nailed on to make the field, armed with two Grand Slam titles this year.

However, their form has somewhat tailed off since winning the US Open, with their best result since Flushing Meadows a semi-final in Vienna.

They start on Sunday evening, and have drawn the multiple world champion Bryan brothers among the pairs in their group, although the vastly experienced Americans are not the force they once were.