Mr Murray benefits from being the world number 2 - it means that he automatically heads up the 'Ilie Nastase Group', as opposed to being drawn in the 'Stan Smith Group' with Mr Djokovic.
The Ilie Nastase group comprises him, Mr Wawrinka, Mr Nadal and Mr Ferrer. Mr Djokovic received Mr Federer, Mr Berdych and Mr Nishikori. On the whole, I rather suspect that Mr Murray can have no complaints with that draw.
Mr Murray opens the RR stage against Mr Ferrer on Monday, not before 2:00 pm:
I don't think Andy will have too many complaints, though I suspect he's not particularly concerned as to what group he's in anyway. The tour finals showcase the best 8 players over the course of a season, so all 8 players know they will have to beat the very best to succeed here.
Counterintuitively, he might have been better off with Federer (or Djokovic) in his half...
If all goes according to form/seeding, he's now got a tough semifinal.
Don't really understand the logic here.
If he'd been with Federer, he'd in all likelihood have to beat him anyway in order to top the group and thus draw, say, Wawrinka in the semis. It's just the other way round.
Either way, given his recent record here, his respective H2H's against those in his group and with no doubt one eye on the DC, I'll be (pleasantly) surprised if he even gets out of the group.
I know there are those who will argue it's not a major thing - but I am sure there are many who will appreciate Mr Murray's instant message of support last night for the French - well, actually, judging by the fact that 6K retweeted and 8.3K liked, there are many. (Ferrer and Berdych also tweeted their prayers and thoughts - as among the doubles players did Ivan Dodig, Bob Bryan, Jamie Murray, John Peers, Nicolas Mahut, P-H Herbert, Nenad Zimonjic, Simone Bolelli, Fabio Fognini, and Rohan Bopanna. Tecau and Rojer, for the record, don't tweet)
I've been thinking through this morning, but the perfect week is probably getting to the semis, then lose there giving a solid performance, and most importantly coming through injury free.
If my maths is right, a win for Andy today followed by Nole beating Fed tomorrow is enough to guarantee Andy the Nš2 spot at the end of the year. For me, DC is priority over everything, so if he doesn't make it out of the group, I won't be worried at all.