Andy Murray to begin Finals with Cilic showdown

Murray has never been past the semi-finals at the season-ending event, but the Scot arrives at London’s O2 Arena with a huge incentive to take the title. The 29-year-old shattered Novak Djokovic’s 122-week reign at top of the world rankings over the weekend by reaching the final of the Paris Masters. To ensure his first taste of the number one position lasts more than two weeks, Murray must match or better Djokovic’s performance at the Tour Finals, a tournament the Serb has won for the past four years. Murray was back to business on Monday as he learned his initial opponents in the Finals. Murray has had mixed results against his group rivals this year, losing to Nishikori in the US Open quarter-finals after beating him at the Rio Olympics and in the Davis Cup.

GROUP MCENROE 

Fourteen-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal will make his return to action at the Mubadala World Tennis Championships exhibition event in Abu Dhabi at the end of December. Nadal’s 2016 season was plagued by physical problems and he cut his campaign short in October to recover fully to target a return to Grand Slam glory in 2017. “Excited to announce my first tournament back will be in Abu Dhabi at the #MubadalaWorldTennisChampionship in December,” the Spaniard posted on his Twitter account on Monday. Nadal, a three-time winner of the event, will be joined by new world number one Andy Murray, Milos Raonic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, David Goffin and Thomas Berdych in the six-man even from December 29-31.