Andy Murray has waited a long time to hit his first ball in a Masters Cup competition. The 21-year-old Scot will do so tomorrow against Andy Roddick in front of what is likely to be a full and excitable crowd at Shanghai's Qi Zhong Stadium.

Andy Murray has waited a long time to hit his first ball in a Masters Cup competition. The 21-year-old Scot will do so tomorrow against Andy Roddick in front of what is likely to be a full and excitable crowd at Shanghai's Qi Zhong Stadium.

It will be his 71st match of a long and eventful season, but the circumstances should ensure that Murray cherishes the occasion more than most.

He practiced with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga yesterday to get himself acquainted with the medium-paced indoor courts. Aside from what appeared to be some stiffness in his hip, the sort of niggle which is de rigeur at this time of the season, he appears ready to compete in the event dubbed "The Final Showdown".

Qualifying for the Masters Cup might not impact on the public consciousness with the same force that Murray's run to the US Open final did, but he regards it as a comparable achievement, one which might even be more valuable since it rewards repeated rather than isolated success.

"For the players, the Masters Cup is huge, but for those outside tennis, I don't think they know too much about it, which is a shame," said Murray, who is hoping that the competition's move to London next year might raise its profile. "It's a huge achievement to qualify as it'srecognition of the year you have had, of the consistency you have achieved."

By anyone's measure, Murray has had a hugely successful season. When asked what he was most proud of, he identified a recent run that began after Wimbledon and allowed him to qualify for Shanghai before the summer was over.

"In the last four months, I have only lost to the top guys other than when I played one bad match at the Olympics," said Murray. "I've only lost a handful of matches since Wimbledon. I've played at a level that has meant that I have picked up more ranking points than anyone else on the tour.

"So it hasn't been a one-off tournament, it has been consistency, and I need to try to keep that up at the start of next year if I want to move up the rankings and hopefully win a grand slam."

That is next on his list of things to do and a few confidence-boosting wins this week against the rest of the best can only enhance his chances of bettering his US Open runner-up's plate.

It is testament to his ambition that he is already thinking beyond that goal, though, to the prospect of earning himself the most prized reward for consistency there is: the world No.1 ranking.

"I want to try to win a grand slam and if I can do that then I will go after the No.1 ranking," said Murray. "Nadal and Federer are much better on other surfaces than I am. I need to improve my clay-court game and my grass-court game. I think on hard courts I am not that far behind, but I think on the other surfaces, I have got a lot of work to do."