Shortly after his loss in Paris, Murray gave an interview suggesting his workout plans.  He wanted to work on his backhand.  He wanted to work on his serve.  He was looking forward to a solid finish in London to end the year at number 3.  Alas, as he began his training, he injured his groin a few days after his loss to Berdych.

He was told by doctors to give himself 7-10 days rest which would have meant withdrawing from London.  Against medical advice, he chose to play David Ferrer in his opening round-robin match and hope that he could manage to get through somehow, at the very least, give himself a cushion for his year-end number 3 goals.

Although he had chances to win, his lack of practice and motivation showed.  He was unable to hold serve well and this meant Ferrer broke him several times more than he normally does.  In a post-match interview yesterday, he revealed that he had a groin injury and that under normal circumstances, that is, if he weren’t in a Slam or in a year-end event, he would have withdrawn from the tournament.  But because of the magnitude of the tournament, Murray opted to give it a try.  Murray told reporters that he would make a decision Tuesday (today) whether to withdraw, although he was probably fearing the worst.

When Murray skipped a 1 PM practice session, many felt it was only a matter of time before he announced his decision to withdrawal, and they were right.

With his withdrawal, the number 1 alternate, Janko Tipsarevic will take Murray’s place.  Tipsarevic will play Tomas Berdych in tomorrow’s match.  Tipsarevic has a very good record against Berdych though Berdych is playing some great tennis.  Berdych beat Tipsarevic last week in Paris for the first time and had to come back from a big hole in the first set to manage to feat.  Berdych might have been happier to meet an in-form Murray than an in-form Tipsarevic.

Earlier in the day, Mardy Fish’s chances of making it to the semifinals was dealt a blow when he lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 76, 61.  Tsonga got up an early break in the first set, but Fish managed to make it close.  The difference was Tsonga’s aggressiveness (he hit more winners than Fish) and his ability to win points on second serve.  Fish started the second set with a break of serve, but won no more games after that.  Fish made forays to the net but was much less effective against the Frenchman than the world number 2, Nadal.  Tsonga did a very good job keeping returns low and making passes while himself getting to the net to close off points.

Fish was the only player to have a losing record to everyone else in the draw, though he gave himself a good chance to upset Nadal two days ago.  Nadal seemed to be struggling with an injury as well, but hung in to take the tiebreak when Fish found himself unable to return Nadal’s serve effectively.

One beneficiary of Murray’s withdrawal is Roger Federer.  Federer has won his opening round-robin match.  Should he beat Nadal, he would qualify for the semifinals (though his exact position would not be known).  He would still need to win his semifinal match to secure enough points (he needs 720 points to surpass Murray) to end the year at number 3, still his lowest ranking in a few years.  This is a tough task, but Federer has been playing solid tennis heading into London, and has a decent chance of making the semis.  Ideally, he wants to win the round-robin so he plays someone besides Djokovic, assuming Djokovic wins Group A, which is not entirely certain as Djokovic showed slight signs of struggling at the end of his match against Berdych.  It appears most of the players are dealing with some kind of injury, to one degree or another, which includes Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, and Fish.