Murray's world ranking is at its lowest since 2008 (©GettyImages). Andy Murray is not planning to make sizable changes to his playing schedule to ensure that he qualifies for the ATP World Tour Finals at the end of the season.
The finals take place in November at the 02 Arena in London, and are contested between the top eight players in the end of year rankings.
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There is a chance the British number one will not qualify for the tournament for the first time since 2007, as his world ranking has now dropped to 11th, after failing to reach the final of any tournament this year.
The two-time Grand Slam winner’s ranking is at its lowest since June 2008, but he will not jeopardise his fitness to play in more tournaments to improve his chances of qualifying.
No major changes
While he has struggled for form this year, he has also been recovering from the back surgery that forced him to miss the tournament last year, and it is not a priority to play in front of his home crowd again this year.
The Dunblane born player said: “To be honest, it was not a massive goal of mine.
“I mean, it’s obviously nice to qualify for it as it’s a good tournament.
“I played a number of years and enjoyed it, but I don’t want to overplay.”
Running out of time
Murray’s playing schedule currently has him down to play just two more tournaments before the end of the year, as he is set to appear at ATP Masters 1000 Series events in Shanghai and Paris in October.
Other opportunities for him to play on the tour could come at ATP 500 events in Beijing or Tokyo at the end of September, as well as Valencia or Basel at the end of October, but Murray is undecided on his plans for the end of the season.
“I’ll play the right schedule. I’ll likely play probably a tournament before Shanghai, but I’m not sure exactly which one yet.
“I won’t expect to overplay just to try to qualify.”
An added problem for the 27-year-old is the recent success of Croatia’s Marin Cilic, who may take up a place in the tournament even if he does not finish in the top eight, after beating Japan’s Kei Nishikori to win the US Open final on Monday, which will give him qualification so long as he finishes in the top 20.
That would mean that Murray is over 1000 points behind the lowest qualifying position of seventh, which is currently occupied by Canada’s Milos Raonic.
Near misses
Murray has never won the tournament, though he has reached the semi-finals on three occasions, the last of which came in 2012, where he was beaten by Swiss Roger Federer.
Despite qualifying for the tournament for the last six years, he has only been able to fulfil his matches in one of the last three years, as he was forced to pull out of the 2011 tournament with a groin injury after losing his first match to David Ferrer of Spain.
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