ANDY MURRAY:  It’s been good.  I mean, it’s obviously been a little different, quite difficult because weather has not been great, and obviously with what’s gonna happen tomorrow.

So we had to make quite a few changes, a few adjustments, and I have practiced indoors a couple of times, and again tomorrow I’ve got an indoor court, too.

So it’s been tough.  Everyone’s kind of in a the same boat.  But it’s been good.  I have been hitting the ball well and done some good training this week.

Q.  Is it a bit difficult?

ANDY MURRAY:  Not really.  We’ve known about it for quite a while now.  It’s been five or six days everyone has been talking about it.

So just looking forward for it sort of passing now, because it’s been quite ‑‑ it’s not just like it just happened like overnight.  It’s taken quite a few days for us sort of waiting for it and kind of having to decide how we’re gonna practice, if we’re gonna try to get in sort of more practice early in the week outdoors or stick to kind of what the normal plan is and practicing hour and a half, two hours a day and maybe having to go indoors.  That’s been the only problem.

Q.  So are you planning on coming in here tomorrow?

ANDY MURRAY:  No.

Q.  Somewhere in Manhattan?

ANDY MURRAY:  Yeah.  I don’t even know where the court is, but it will obviously be somewhere near the hotel.

Q.  Is there any fear for you?  Have you taken any precautions?

ANDY MURRAY:  No.  The thing is, I think people are right to be pretty cautious about it, because, you know, like we don’t see weather like this from the UK.  It’s never, never this bad.  So I think just have to wait and see what it’s like, because I have no idea what to expect.

You know, we had to go and get stuff from the supermarket for the room in case ‑‑ well, loads of places are gonna be closed.  There’s a two‑and‑a‑half hour queue at the supermarket, so everyone’s taking it pretty seriously.

Q.  You cut down your schedule a bit coming into the US Open this year.  Do you think that’s helped prepare you physically for the next fortnight?

ANDY MURRAY:  Last year I decided last minute to play the tournament in LA which maybe hurt me a little bit once I got here.

But the years before that I tried to take a decent break after Wimbledon.  I felt like that was the best way to prepare for here.  So I think it was the right decision to give myself sort of three or four weeks off and train in Miami.

I feel pretty fresh just now, which is good.  Maybe the last couple years that wasn’t the case.

Q.  There is a lot of talk in the media these days about the greatest of all time.  You have three players now:  Federer and Nadal, maybe Djokovic coming up who may lay claim to that title.  Do the players ever talk about the GOAT, the greatest of all time?

ANDY MURRAY:  Haven’t spoken to other players about that.  I’ve spoken to people that I work with.  Not really to the other players.

Q.  When you talk to your colleagues, what do you say?

ANDY MURRAY:  Well, you can never say.  You don’t know, so there’s no right answer.  It’s just a discussion that the same in every sport.  People talk about, you know, who’s the best team and who’s the best boxer of all time, who’s the best heavyweight, you know.

And you never know.  You don’t know.  So right now I know that tennis, the level of tennis at the top of the game is very, very high.  You know, the year Djokovic has had this year, probably won’t see something like that for quite a long time, you know.  No matter what happens between now and the end of the year, the first six months, six seven months were incredible.

But, yeah, the level that Roger and Rafa set, you know, the previous years is being equally as impressive.

Q.  You’ve always talked about how you like the atmosphere in New York.  How does a kid from Dunblane sort of get into the vibe of a city like this?  It’s got to be different than where you came from.

ANDY MURRAY:  Yeah, the thing is, like obviously Dunblane there’s really not a whole lot going on there.  I started traveling when I was like 11 or 12.  I came over to the States first time and played the Orange Bowl in Miami when I was like 11.

I started doing quite a lot of traveling, and when I got to 15 I moved over to Barcelona, which is a pretty energetic city.  Then, yeah, came over here the first time when I was that age and I just really enjoyed it.

I’ve always liked busy places.  Like I have always enjoyed sort of having things to do.  There’s a lot really close by.  It doesn’t take long to kind of get anywhere.

And also the center court I think is just incredible atmosphere.  It’s so different to anything on the tennis calendar, and I really like playing here.

Q.  Does it not amaze you in this age of technology that when it rains, all they can do is bring out the squeegee mop and a few towels?

ANDY MURRAY:  Yeah.  I spoke about that the other day.  I was speaking to some of the guys about it when it started raining, and everyone comes up and it’s like, Oh, it’s typical.  It feels like we’re at Wimbledon.

It rains here every single year, so it’s like annoying.  And because I’m from the UK, everyone always says the same thing to me.  I was asking, I don’t understand why they don’t just have covers.  I heard that if they have covers, something to do with the paint on the court and the moisture and I don’t know, it’s not good for the court, the court can lose color or something.

So I think they should probably ‑‑ well, I’m sure they are thinking about doing something, but like most things, it takes a bit of time to push it through, I guess.

Q.  You have had obviously a couple of disappointing years here.  When you have time to reflect above and beyond sitting there immediately after the match, did you come to any kind of specific conclusions as to why a place that you enjoy so much, why you didn’t perform the last couple of years as well as you would have hoped?

ANDY MURRAY:  Yeah.  I mean, last year, you know, I felt like even from the start I didn’t feel all that fresh, which is something that, you know, this year I have made quite a big thing of getting ready for the slams and making sure that I’m at in my best physical condition going into them, because these are the tournaments I want to play my best tennis at.

And the year beforehand, you know, I was playing okay, but I also had relatively bad sort of tendinitis in my wrist.  I was struggling to hit my backhand, which is normally one of my strongest shots.

I tried playing Davis Cup, which I should never have played in.  I missed like nine weeks after that.  You know, didn’t go over to Asia and spent a lot of time sort of rehabbing it, trying to get it better.

That was something where I realized that I need to make sure that I prioritize events and make sure that physically I don’t have any niggles and twinges going in, because things always happen at the slams.

You’re going to get problems throughout the tournament and things that hurt with long matches especially on the hard courts, and I want to make sure like happened in the Australia the last couple of years, I have prepared very, very well.

Q.  John McEnroe says he thinks this is your best shot ever at winning a Grand Slam.  What do you think about that?

ANDY MURRAY:  No.  It’s a silly thing to say, because it’s not one tournament, you know.  It will be Federer is not playing well and Rafa is struggling and Djokovic’s shoulder is sore.

But I know come Monday they’ll all be fine.  I have a chance of winning for sure.  Whether it’s my best chance or not, no one has a clue like that.  And someone like John who has played hundreds and hundreds and thousands of matches probably knows that one bad day and you can put yourself out of the tournament.

And especially towards the latter stages when you’re playing against ‑ like the man there was saying ‑ you know, three of maybe the three greatest players ever.  You’re going to have to play an incredible event to win.

So I feel like I’m ready to do that.  But to say it’s my best chance, no one knows.

Q.  Cincinnati must have given you a lot of confidence.

ANDY MURRAY:  Yeah.  No, it was great.  It was a really good tournament for me.  Montreal didn’t quite go as I would have liked, obviously.  Then I knew going into Cincinnati that I needed to get some matches and if I was gonna be in sort of good shape to play well here.

I didn’t start off play that great the beginning of Cincinnati, but each match I got just a little bit better and started feeling more comfortable.  I started moving better, and then come the end of the week I was playing some of my best tennis.

I have been hitting the ball well, but I still felt like there were some things I could have improved upon, which was really nice coming in this week, being able to work on some things and not feeling like I was almost recovering before the US Open.

I felt like this week I have been preparing for it and looking forward to it.

Q.  What are your thoughts on Devvarman?

ANDY MURRAY:  I know him a bit, and Danny knows him well because he played the same age in college and played a few times, played a few times against each other in college.  So Danny knows him well.

I have seen him play a few matches and he’s solid.  Kind of does everything pretty well.  Very good attitude, very positive.

So he’s gonna be solid.  He’s not going to give me anything, so I need to play well.

Q.  Rafa said just before that he has not been really surprised that Djokovic has jumped up on him and Roger.  But looking at it, you four have been up at the top of the board for the last three or four years now.  Are you surprised that Djokovic did make that leap from 3 to 1 a bit?

ANDY MURRAY:  I think it’s not been that he’s got to No. 1, it’s kind of maybe how he’s done it.  The consistency is something that, you know ‑‑ well, he probably wouldn’t even have expected it, I am sure.  He’s won something like 10 tournaments this year maybe.

You know, a lot of matches he wasn’t even struggling.  He was winning matches very comfortably.  He’s always been capable of doing that, I guess, but I think this year his consistency has been incredible.  But I think he’s always been right up at the top of the game for the last four or five years.

Rafa, before he got to No. 1 he spent maybe four years at No. 2.  Obviously, you know, Djokovic spent, you know, four or five years at number sort of 2 and 3 and now he’s made the jump.  But it is taking a bit longer for guys sort of to break into that sort of 1 or 2 bracket, I guess, because the guys, Rafa or Roger have been taking those two spots up, and they’ve been, like I said earlier, so consistent and doing stuff that the game probably won’t see for a long time.

Q.  How did Djokovic wrest that away from Rafa?  He beat him five or six times this year in finals.

ANDY MURRAY:  It was just confidence.  His game hasn’t changed much.  His technique is the same.  I think physically he looks better than he did like in the warm conditions.  Like in Miami where, you know, he struggled in the past.  I think he’s looking better physically.

Even here last year in the first round when it was really hot and humid, he was struggling, and I think that’s something that he’s got better at dealing with.  So that’s helped.  And also, yeah, I don’t know.  Best person to ask is probably him, because he knows how he’s feeling and how he’s managed to get that consistency.

Q.  Are you still gluten free?

ANDY MURRAY:  It’s not gluten free as such.  I wasn’t ‑‑ there are certain things I can and can’t eat.  It’s something like gliadin or something.  I don’t even know exactly how to explain it.

Q.  What have you cut out, then?

ANDY MURRAY:  Cow’s milk.  I’m drinking more soy milk with cereals and stuff.  Like a lot of the protein bars and stuff and protein shakes I used to take sort of after matches and after practices and stuff, like I have had to cut them out.

I never really used to have much fish unless I was having sushi, so I’m having a lot more fish and vegetables and just trying to have like just a more balanced diet rather than just the typical sort of like pasta before matches and steaks and chicken.  Having a lot sort of more different types of food.

Q.  Have you had to give the elbow to anything you really like?

ANDY MURRAY:  The problem is breakfast is quite difficult, because normally I could have like bagels, bagels at breakfast and stuff and like spreads, any spreads like peanut butter or cream cheese or any of that stuff.  Breakfast is quite difficult.

And then like snacks during the day.  Rather than having a chocolate bar or something, you know, having like an apple or a banana or something, just fruit.  It’s something that, you know, now like I know how I feel, I wish I had been doing it longer.

Q.  So you do feel a lot better for it?

ANDY MURRAY:  Way better.  I wake up at like 7:00 in the morning now and feel great.  Before I would wake up at like 9:30 and feel terrible.  You know, I probably feel like you do when you wake up every morning.  You know, stiff and sore and tired, and now I wake up and I just feel much fresher and feel good.

Q.  But it’s not gluten free even though you cut out the breads and the pasta?

ANDY MURRAY:  I’m not intolerant to gluten.

Q.  You’re not intolerant, but have you cut it out or tried to cut it down?

ANDY MURRAY:  Yeah, I don’t know exactly how to explain it, but the reason I’m not having gluten is because the stuff that gluten is in, the other thing that I’m intolerant to is also in it, so that’s why I’m not having those things.

Just stuff like corns.  That’s also quite annoying, because that’s in like a lot of snacks that you don’t realize.  Like when you look at the back of the packet, it’s in loads of snacks and things.  So just have to be a bit careful.

Like I retest after the US Open, and then you get like your results back again because it changes.  Like when you cut stuff out, hopefully it’s gonna come on the green list again.  So maybe after the US Open I can start reintroducing those foods back into my diet.

Djokovic won the crown after being both Roger Federer and Andy Murray in straight sets.

But for many years, Novak Djokovic was the best of the rest. The top player in the world not named Federer or Nadal. Now, though that has changed.

After his complete demolition of No. 5 seed Andy Murray, 6-4 6-2 6-3, to win the 2011 Australian Open, Djokovic vaulted himself up into the land of Federer and Nadal with his second OZ Open win and that makes it twice in four years.

“This was a great match,” Djokovic said. “From the start to the last point, I did what I intended of doing tactically, what I talked with my coach, what I prepared for. Physically I was very fit. I had two days between the semifinals and finals match, which was important at this stage of the tournament.

“Because I was aware of the fact that I am going to yeah, bring it to me. That will have long rallies and I will have a player who doesn’t miss a lot, a very talented player who is one of the best returners in the game.

“And, yeah, you know, I had to step in. That was the key. When I had the chance to step in and try to move him around the court, that’s what I did. Probably the turning point was the last game of the first set where we had some incredible exchange from the baseline, long rallies, and some passing shots that turned the match around.”

For all his talent, the knock on Djokovic was that he suffered from some mental mistakes, which would keep him for vaulting over players like Federer and Nadal. But something seemed to click late last year, which made him mentally tougher and kept his emotions in check.

“Something switched in my head, because I am very emotional on and off the court,” he said. “I show my emotions. This is the way I am. Everybody’s different.

“The things off court were not working for me, you know. It reflected on my game, on my professional tennis career. But then, you know, I settled some things in my head. It was all on me. You know, I had to try to find the best possible solution and try to get back on the right track.

“It’s been a big mental struggle, because I was trying to separate my, of course, professional life from my more private life.

“But, you know, if somebody’s emotional we’re all humans. It’s not possible. If something isn’t working off court, then it’s going to reflect on the court. I managed to solve that problems.

“This is all part of life. Of course, everybody’s facing difficult situations in their lives. To overcome the crisis and to stand up and try to still dedicate yourself to the sport was a big success for me as a person.”

With Roger Federer now on the downside of his career and Rafael Nadal taking up the mantle of the world’s best player, Djokovic is gaining ground in becoming the yin to Nadal’s yang. All great champions have one. Nadal was Federer’s Andre Agassi was Pete Sampras, and so forth. And after straight sets wins over Federer and Murray in the Semifinals and Finals, Djokovic is approaching that level.

Yet, according to the 23 year-old, there is still a gap.

“Still Rafa and Roger are the two best players in the world,” Djokovic said. “No question about that. You can’t compare my success and Murray’s success to their success. They’re the two most dominant players in the game for a while. All the credit to them.

“It’s nice to see that there are some new players in the later stages of Grand Slams fighting for a title. That’s all I can say.”

And it’s nice to see the Serbian win this one. Djokovic will be trying to improve his standing on other surfaces as he never got past the Semifinals at Roland Garros or Wimbledon. Yet, the he seems to be ready for the challenge.

“I don’t want to stop here,” he said. Definitely I want to keep my body healthy, fit, and ready for some more challenges to come. I feel that I have a good game for all the surfaces. I have proven that in the past.”

Murray will be going for his first Major win after going to three major finals.

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The world’s leading players used their tennis skills to create individual masterpieces by hitting paint covered tennis balls against large art canvases. Each canvas was overlaid with a stencilled image, which, when removed, revealed a unique self-portrait showing one of the player’s signature moves on court.

The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals sees the Top 8 men’s tennis players in the world battle it out against each other for the last title of the season. Players compete for South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings points throughout the season in a bid to earn one of the eight coveted berths and a chance to win the $1.6m prize money on offer for the winner.

The artwork created by the final eight players will be exhibited for public viewing in Central London in early November, and during tournament week at the new Fan Zone at The O2. The artwork then will be auctioned off for charity with tennis fans around the world getting the chance to bid on a rare piece of art created and signed by their favourite player.

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have already qualified for the tournament. The remaining six places are still up for grabs, as a chasing pack featuring the likes of Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Andy Roddick continue to battle for rankings points at ATP World Tour events during the remainder of the season in order to finish among the Top 8.

Nadal, the 2010 Wimbledon, Roland Garros and US Open Champion, is looking forward to returning to London in November. “Making the artwork was fun and something I’ve never done before. It’s a great way to celebrate the World Tour Finals coming back to London. Last year the crowd and the stadium were amazing although I didn’t play my best tennis. Hopefully this year I will arrive playing well again and will try to do my best in front of the London fans who add such a special feeling to the event,” said the World No.1.

Federer, a four-time winner of the season-ending tournament, has qualified for the event for a ninth consecutive year. “They staged a fantastic event at The O2 last year and I look forward to returning in November and finishing the season strong. It was great fun being invited to create my self-portrait and I’m excited to see how the finished artwork looks hanging in the gallery,” said the Swiss.

The tournament is the world’s biggest indoor tennis event, where each of the top eight players are drawn to play a minimum of three round-robin matches to determine which four players advance to the knockout semi-finals. Tickets are available online at www.BarclaysATPWorldTourFinals.com.

Fish defeated Santiago Giraldo of Colombia,3-6,6-3,7-5,4-6,8-6 in Bogota today on red clay to clinch the victory.There is no fifth set tiebreaker in Davis Cup tennis.

With the win,the United States advanced to the World Group.Only once in history has the United States not advanced to the World Group.Columbia has never advanced to the World Group.

Isner won his opening match in 5 sets against Alejandro Falla and teamed with John Isner to win the doubles.Isner dropped his opening singles contest to Giraldo.

It has been quite a year for Fish.He won at Newport and Atlanta and lost in the finals at Cincinnat to Roger Federer after beating Andy Murray.

Fish had two wrist surgeries in 2005 and fell to #341 in the world.That is long forgotten.

The win allowed Patrick McEnroe to keep advancing as United States Davis Cup Captain.He had announced at the US Open that he would step down as davis Cup Captain after this Davis Cup year is over.

2 Novak Djokovic (Ser) 7145.00

3 Roger Federer (Swi) 6735.00

4 Andy Murray (Gbr) 5035.00

5 Robin Soderling (Swe) 4910.00

6 Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) 4150.00

7 Tomas Berdych (Cze) 3780.00

8 Fernando Verdasco (Spa) 3330.00

9 Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) 3295.00

10 David Ferrer (Spa) 3200.00

11 Andy Roddick (USA) 3180.00

12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) 2905.00

13 Jurgen Melzer (Aut) 2605.00

14 Marin Cilic (Cro) 2540.00

15 Gael Monfils (Fra) 2250.00

16 Nicolas Almagro (Spa) 2150.00

17 Ivan Ljubicic (Cro) 2120.00

18 Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp) 2030.00

19 Mardy Fish (USA) 1931.00

20 Stanislas Wawrinka (Swi) 1860.00

The semifinal had served as a stop sign for Nadal in each of the past two years — he fell to Andy Murray in a rain-interrupted 2008 semifinal and was blown off the court by big-hitting Argentine Juan Martin del Potro in last September’s semis — but the top-seeded Spaniard played with authoritative ambition in surging to his 20th consecutive Grand Slam victory today.

“For me, it is a dream I am going to play the final here in the biggest center court of the world,” Nadal said. “I try my best so after a lot of work so I am very happy for that.”

Playing progressively stronger with each passing round, Nadal has kicked his game into a higher gear like a sprinter downshifting into speedier strides with the tape in sight as he is now one win removed from becoming the seventh man in history to complete the career Grand Slam.

Continuing his quest to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open in succession, Nadal has not surrendered a set in six tournament victories and now the world watches and waits for a potential electrifying encounter in tomorrow’s final.

If five-time champion Roger Federer defeats Novak Djokovic for the fourth consecutive time at the Open in today’s second semifinal then the archrivals will face off in their first Flushing Meadows final. It would be their 18th meeting in a championship match, second to Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe, who met in 20 finals.

Nadal and Federer have split the spoils at the Grand Slam table in combining to claim 21 of the last 24 major championships.

It would be a historic match-up marking the first time in history two men squared off in all four Grand Slam tournament finals. A Federer-Nadal final would be their eighth Grand Slam title match, setting the record for most major meetings (they currently share the record of seven major final face-offs with Bill Tilden and William Johnston, who met in seven straight US Championships from 1919-1925.).

Seeking to become the first Russian man to reach a major final since Marat Safin at the 2005 Australian Open and the second Russian finalist in Flushing Meadow after Safin, who stunned Pete Sampras to capture the title a decade ago, Youzhny need to play big and bold, but instead looked tired and timid for long stretches of the match.

Youzhny punctuated a few of his errant shots by tapping his adidas with the rim of racquet as if trying to shake some sense into his shot selection through flogging his feet.

“Maybe he was a little bit more tired than me; he played a longer match during the week,” Nadal said.

Depleted by his 3-6, 7-6(7-), 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over 25th-seeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka that spanned exactly four hours, a spent Youzhny looked like a man fully aware he had little left in his inner reservoir. The clarity Youzhny showed in his shot selection against Wawrinka was missing at times today. Nadal’s fast feet and ability to track down balls that elude most mortals caused Youzhny to think before he struck at times and he conceded that the mind-body connection was a bit out of sync.

“I cannot say I’m really tired, but yeah, (I) was not fast enough today,” Youzhny said. “My decision was not really fast. I mean, I (was) moving well, but my head was one step back of my hand and my legs. So that’s why I was thinking too long where I have to play. That’s why some mistakes and that’s why made the score like this one.”

Nadal has a habit of infiltrating opponent’s heads with his anticipation, unerring consistency and court coverage that seems to squeeze the court to the size of a parking space.

“He’s consistent. He play really high level all year,” Youzhny said of Nadal. “Not everybody can play like this. Some players play really well maybe three tournaments and four, five tournaments play not so well. Even top players. But Federer and Nadal I think (are) more consistent players. His level is a little bit higher than all other players.”

Read more of Rich Pagliaro at TennisNow.com.