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DERMOT MURNAGHAN:
Roger Federer says he’s not feeling the pressure as he seeks to defend his World Tour Tennis Finals crown. The world’s top eight players will compete at London’s O2 Arena for a third successive year with Federer and Nadal both featuring in today’s opening round of matches but Greg Rusedski believes Andy Murray could be the man to upset their plans and Greg joins us, as you can see, live from the O2. Well why do you think that then Greg, and a very good morning to you by the way?

GREG RUSEDSKI:
Good morning. I think Andy Murray has a great chance because he won those three tournaments in Asia where he played some of his best tennis, he was playing aggressively, playing very well out there so I put Andy Murray right now as the second favourite for this event. I still put Roger Federer slightly ahead of him.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN:
This is the problem isn’t it? When one of the other big three or four so to speak fall out of form, then one of the other ones comes back and that is the case with Federer isn’t it? He is playing out of his skin again.

GREG RUSEDSKI:
Well the thing for Federer is he took some time off after the US Open and when you take a month off and get back to training and start working on your game again you come back better and having won at home in Basle and then winning the Paris Open tournament, he feels really confident and this surface suits Roger Federer to a tee, it’s not too high bouncing, the ball goes through the court a little bit quicker and that is tailor-made for him.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN:
So if Andy Murray should see off Roger Federer on this kind of form, on that kind of surface, this would be a real feather in his cap.

GREG RUSEDSKI:
This would be the biggest tournament Andy Murray has ever won if he comes through and wins this and it would put him in good stead for next year to possibly win his first major title because these are the best eight players in the world, he is going to have to get through Djokovic and Federer or possibly Nadal to win this event and if he can do it in London, that is only going to give him confidence. Also for Andy Murray this year he has had his best season at the majors so expect 2012 to be great for Murray. If he wins here we might actually have that first British major champion at a slam next year.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN:
That would be fantastic. Next year, that’s the point though isn’t it? Most people obviously want to see, you know about the pressures yourself, they want to see a British male champion at Wimbledon and we look at Andy Murray’s form over the years and he doesn’t seem to be able to peak at the right time yet plays brilliantly, as you say at the moment, wins so many other tournaments but doesn’t get it right for the majors. Is there something about psychology in that do you believe, Greg, or is it training or what?

GREG RUSEDSKI:
Well I think the change he has made this year is he is trying to be more aggressive. To win a major, if you get to the finals, the two guys are playing great tennis and it is the one who is slightly more aggressive in the big moments who comes through and for Andy Murray I think he has realised that this year. If he is going to beat Djokovic or Federer or Nadal back to back, he is going to have to take it to them so it is a slightly mental side of the game because unfortunately for Andy he is caught in between two worlds because his game is good enough to beat 97 of the top 100 players but to beat the very best in the finals he has got to go after it more and the nice thing for him is he is only going to get better with time.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN:
You mentioned Federer taking a bit of a break, by this stage in the season, the last big one of the season, are a lot of the major players beginning to feel the wear and tear?

GREG RUSEDSKI:
Well if you look at Djokovic he has had shoulder problems, he had to pull out of Paris, if you look at Mardy Fish as well, he had some problems with his hamstring but Nadal and Federer have been very clever coming into this event, they have taken some time off. Nadal has had two weeks off, Federer had a month off after the US Open so that’s timing it, knowing how to work the system where you don’t play too much too soon. So Federer Nadal should be very sharp.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN:
Talk me through some of the mouth-watering clashes we may see over the course of the next few days.

GREG RUSEDSKI:
Well what a day we have this Sunday for you actually. The opening singles match is going to be Tsonga against Federer, Tsonga beat him at Wimbledon this year two set to love down, beat him in five sets and then all of a sudden at the US Open Federer beat Tsonga so this one is nicely posed, what an opener we’re having and then Nadal against Fish as well which is a great match. Fish has only beaten him on one occasion but it came this year so an attacking side against more of a baseliner, aggressive baseliner so we have got some great match ups. In the other groups we’ve got Murray playing Berdych and you’ve got Djokovic playing Ferrer in that section so those look very well as well, so you have not one bad ticket for this event.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN:
Just tell us who have you got warming up over your shoulder, I can’t quite see?

GREG RUSEDSKI:
We have Tsonga actually who is warming up for his match against Roger Federer, the Frenchman who has got a lot of flair, he is flamboyant, he serves and volleys, he is the Mohammed Ali of tennis so what an opener and what a character.

DERMOT MURNAGHAN:
A really popular guy, we wish them all the best of luck. Greg, thank you very much indeed for taking the time to set the scene for us, as you say there are some mouth-watering prospects in prospect there at the O2 and it is all live on Sky Sports.

GREG RUSEDSKI:
Thank you.