Race to London heating up, but Andy Murray has point about ATP sending mixed signals with criteria

With four spots still to fill, the Race to London is heating up. Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Stan Wawrinka have already booked a place at the ATP’s year-ending championships.

There is an exciting tussle for the remaining places with only 610 points separating the next six on the leader board beginning with No 5 Kei Nishikori down to No 10 Andy Murray.

The US Open champion Marin Cilic is No 6, but the Croat could qualify for the championships even if he finishes outside the top eight as the rules allow the highest ranked grand slam title winner outside the top eight to get an automatic entry at the expense of the No 8 finisher.

Murray is not too happy about that loophole. “If the ATP want their tournaments to be the most important tournaments, which I think they do, you would hope that the players who would get in would be those who accumulate the most points across the whole year on the ATP tour,” Murray said.

“But, by putting the grand slam champions in, then they would be saying the grand slams are the most important events.”

Certainly, there is a lot of merit in what Murray is saying, but this might be the wrong time. The Scot is in danger of missing out after qualifying for the ATP Finals for five consecutive seasons and, given his situation, many will dismiss his statement as sour grapes.

Still, there are many who believe the finals should be to reward consistent performances across the season and not just a fortnight.

Race to London heating up, but Andy Murray has point about ATP sending mixed signals with criteria

It might fairly be termed self-preservation coming from Andy Murray, but his argument that the ATP is rewarding grand slams over the rest of the tour with ATP World Tour Finals selection is legitimate, writes Ahmed Rizvi.