Sunday 20 November 2016 18:28, UK
It would be a "fitting tribute" after all his hard work and dedication to see Andy Murray defeat old foe Novak Djokovic in the ATP World Tour Final on Sunday, believes Mark Petchey.
The world's top two players had contrasting wins in the semi-finals at London's O2 Arena on Saturday, with Murray surviving a match point to beat Milos Raonic 5-7 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (11-9) in three hours and 38 minutes, the longest ever three-setter in the ATP finals.
Five-time champion Djokovic needed just 66 minutes to dispatch Japan's Kei Nishikori 6-1 6-1.
Murray arrived at the tournament needing to do better than the Serb to finish the year at the top of the rankings - a position he has held since winning the Paris Masters a fortnight ago. Now, that means winning the final.
But Sky Sports Tennis analyst Petchey feels both players have a 50-50 chance of walking away with the coveted title on Sunday evening, although he thinks the ball is well and truly in Djokovic's court.
"They can both win, but at this minute it's advantage Novak given the quick nature of this match and to see what Andy went through emotionally and physically against Nishikori and Raonic," he said.
"But you can't get away from the fact that their match-ups have been very physical. They're both great returners, they both move great, there's lots of rallies.
"Although the court is medium fast, we've seen long matches here and a lot of rallies, so the physical aspect plays a huge part. How Andy wakes up tomorrow... I know it's his last match of the year, but you can't magic energy into the legs.
"I just hope he feels 100 per cent for everybody here, the fans and most importantly himself."
Murray, bidding to win the Tour Finals for the first time in his maiden final appearance, acknowledged he is feeling the strain of his gruelling run, but Petchey is adamant that he can produce one final career-defining moment.
"Winning means everything for Andy, but winning here is the culmination of hard work and the phenomenal effort that he puts into his sport and the sacrifices that he's made. It would be, I think, a fitting tribute, picking himself up so incredibly well to the loss at the French - those are big moments in his career," said Murray's former coach Petchey.
"He picked himself up to then go and win at Wimbledon, the Olympics and I actually think the adversity to pick himself up after defeats against Kei Nishikori [at the US Open] and Juan Martin del Potro [in the Davis Cup semi-finals] - he has picked himself up from those losses and gone on this run. He has been amazing."
A 24th victory of the season for the Scot would bring a fitting finale to the best year of his life and Petchey feels the debate for who is the world No 1 will finally be put to bed once and for all Sunday night.
"Andy is going to give Novak different spins, different pace, he's going to mix it up and he's not going to allow Novak the same kind of time on the ball and the same timing, so of course he can push him.
"It's the first time ever the year-end number one is going to get decided here, with two players who have been clearly the best two players by a mile. You only need to look at the titles, the rankings, the points. We couldn't have asked for more.
"It will end the argument about who is number one. Everyone has got their debate and tomorrow, let's see who it is."
Check our game-by-game coverage from ATP World Tour Final in London on Sunday as Andy Murray aims to secure the year-end world No 1 against Novak Djokovic. Follow us on skysports.com/tennis, our app for mobile devices and iPad and our Twitter account @skysportstennis to see how the drama unfolds.
