THE roof of the 02 Arena in London is festooned with what appears to be spikes.

Sometime tomorrow afternoon that same roof may have to be prised from the moon. More than 17,000 people will pack into the arena and their roars when Andy Murray is announced as the US Open champion may see the whole edifice hurtling into space and towards a lunar landscape.

Murray, though, will keep his feet firmly on the ground. The 25-year-old Scot was yesterday drawn in group A of the Barclays ATP World Tour finals and must overcome the combined strength of Novak Djokovic, Tomas Berdych and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to finish at least second in the section and qualify for the semi-finals.

The other group contains current world No 1 Roger Federer, David Ferrer, Juan Martin del Potro, Janko Tipsarevic, guaranteeing the perception that the man who triumphed so spectacularly to win his first Grand Slam event is in the tougher section.

With that air of quiet confidence that has followed him since winning gold in the London Olympics and the extraordinary events of Flushing Meadows and all its attendant celebrity, Murray reflected that he has to beat the best players in the world to win the £1.5 million prize and that arguments about the precise strengths of the groups might be interesting but are surely irrelevant when play starts tomorrow afternoon when he steps out to play Berdych.

Murray pointed out that Federer is the best indoor player in the world over the past two years and that Del Potro won two indoor tournaments before the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris.

He has avoided both in the preliminaries, but now has to chart a way past Berdych, the US Open semi-finalist, Djokovic, an enduring friend and a long-time rival, and Tsonga, who reached the final of this tournament last year and is now under a new coach in Roger Rasheed.

The group matches will demand both a "slight variation" in tactics and a sharply improved focus from Murray who has lost his last three matches despite holding match points.

The presence of Ivan Lendl, back at the side of his protege for the first time since the victory over Djokovic in New York, will assist in both these ambitions. The pair exchanged a clipped hello on the clipper taking them from central London to the O2 for practice yesterday.

More animated discussions will take place today as Murray attempts to win a tournament that he will approach as the season's fifth Grand Slam, looking to overcome progressively more difficult challenges during the week.

"He has been a great asset to me and all the guys I work with," said Murray yesterday of his coach. "He has helped me come back from tough losses and finish the year in the Slams very well."

More importantly, Lendl, an eight-time Grand Slam winner, has also infused a belief in his player that he can win against the best and in the toughest of moments.

The relaxation that was an inevitable consequence of Murray winning his first Grand Slam has perhaps contributed to the squandering of eight match points against Djokovic, Milos Raonic and Jerzy Janowicz.

The world No 3 appeared philosophical about these lapses when questioned yesterday and he may be consoled that Janowicz, the 21-year-old Pole, has reached the final of the Masters 1000 event in Paris after defeating the Scot en route.

But Murray gave a glimpse of his annoyance at allowing the world No. 69 off the hook when he said: "I did not feel that I focused as hard last week as I need to when I served for the match."

This is the most painful confession for a competitor who prides himself on his ability to close out matches, particularly against lesser opponents. Motivation, then, will not be a problem this week as Murray seeks to end a golden season with a title he has never won despite consecutive qualifications since 2007.

With Lendl at his elbow, Murray will also be seeking to put down a marker for 2013. With Rafael Nadal still injured and Federer now 31, the rising rivalry in the sport is that between Djokovic and the man from Dunblane.

They are now placed in the same group but many believe they could contest the final next week. Murray would not look that far ahead and brushed off over-heated claims about his battle royales with Djokovic rivalling the great Nadal-Federer clashes of recent years.

"That is a long way off," he said of the claim that the popular Serb and Scot could replicate the moments of high drama produced by the Spaniard and the Swiss.

It is more realistic to state that Murray is now a major player on the world stage with the US Open victory taking him beyond his hard-earned reputation as a perennial top four player who excelled in Masters events.

The Scot now has an Olympic gold medal and the US Open trophy in his home and sees these achievements as the beginning, not the end. London offers him the opportunity to end a spectacular season with some November fireworks.

"They put on a great show." said Murray of the 02 organisers. He knows he has to do the same to maintain the maintain the momentum of London 2012 and a late summer's day at Flushing Meadows.