IT was a case of Super-Murray to the rescue.
The 27-year-old Scot yesterday drove to the aid of the Barclays ATP World Tour finals, substituting for an injured Roger Federer.
He did not even ask for petrol money for the one-and-a-half hour drive from his home in Surrey to the O2 Arena, where he first played in an exhibition match with finalist Novak Djokovic and then partnered John McEnroe for a doubles match against Pat Cash and Tim Henman.
Murray was sitting at home playing video games when Chris Kermode, ATP chairman and president, phoned him on his mobile with a simple request: "You have to help me out here."
Mr Kermode had just been informed Federer might have to withdraw because of a back injury sustained in his semi-final defeat of Stanislas Wawrinka. "I had to have a plan B," he said.
He called Murray who thought the ATP executive was "winding him up". Convinced of the seriousness of the situation, Murray immediately drove to North Greenwich, arriving at 5pm. A hour later he played a pro set against Djokovic, losing 8-5 and then partnered McEnroe in a doubles defeat of Henman and Cash.
He told the 17,000-strong crowd: "I have to apologise because clearly I pushed Roger too hard on Thursday." This was a self-deprecatory reference to the match against Federer that Murray lost 6-0, 6-1.
Mr Kermode confirmed Murray would not be paid a penny for his appearance, adding: "People will say many things about athletes and on Andy in particular people can be very critical about things but he has a fundamental responsibility for tennis and an acknowledgement people are paying money to come to see something. He was straight in."
Djokovic, meanwhile, picked up $2 million (£1.3m) for winning the tournament.
The match came just 48 hours after Murray suffered a devastating defeat at the hands of the Swiss tennis ace, which knocked him out of the tournament.
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