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11/17/11 7:25 PM | Johan Lindahl
Andy Murray is not sure the home-court advantage applies in his case in London as the Scot finalizes preparation prior to the weekend start of the ATP World Tour Finals.
The world No. 3 is fighting to hang onto that ranking position under a sustained charge from Roger Federer, winner of two events in two weeks.
Murray has a workaday first match on Monday afternoon at the eight-man event in his adopted hometown as he faces Spaniard David Ferrer. His other stablemates are world No. 1 Novak Djokovic and Tomas Berdych.
Murray has, for some reason, never drawn out the love of crowds in the way that Federer and Rafael Nadal do, but the Scot does have his legions of supporters and has to deal with the unique pressure only he faces. "I find it strange that at Wimbledon every year, almost every day I get asked about the stress and pressure of playing in front of a home crowd," he said.
"In every other sport, the home team is thought to have the advantage. So why should it be a problem for me? I've never felt it, never made it an excuse, and it's not going to go away, so deal with it.
"I think we British as a nation expect to win and when we don't we look for these big reasons. I can't say exactly why it hasn't happened for me there, but I'll tell you what isn't the reason: the pressure of the people and the pressure of the media."
Murray knows he will have his work cut out if he wants to advance beyond his 2010 semifinal showing at the O2 arena in deepest East London. "There are obviously no easy matches as it's only the top eight players in the world there. You have to be on top of your game from the very first match.
"I've been happy with my form coming into the tournament and hopefully I can have a strong finish to the season and go even further this time around."
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