ATP World Tour Finals Venue: O2 Arena, London Date: 22-29 November Murray v Del Potro - Live on BBC Two from 1400 GMT, streamed on BBC Sport website, 5 live commentary via website followed by sports extra Tournament coverage: Live on BBC Two, 28/29 November, 1430 GMT; every match live on BBC Radio 5 live/5 live sports extra; live text commentaries on BBC Sport website; live coverage every day on Sky Sports
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Djokovic to focus on Slams
By Piers Newbery
Novak Djokovic forces seven of the world's best tennis players to shuffle around uncomfortably in the London gloom for several minutes before he comes bounding down the steps to join them in front of a Routemaster bus.
Late for the photo call, the defending champion is greeted with some friendly jeers by his rivals as they kick off the promotion for the ATP World Tour Finals.
In Houston it was cowboy hats, in Shanghai it was traditional Chinese dress, so in London it must be sharp suits, umbrellas and a red London bus as a backdrop.
Such is the nature of world tennis that the 22-year-old Serb defends the title 6,000 miles from where he won it 12 months ago.
This year in Australia I faced for the first time the role of defending a major title, a Grand Slam title, and it wasn't really a fun time to be honest
Shanghai has made way for London and the Tennis Masters Cup has been rebranded the ATP World Tour Finals, but the principle remains the same - the best eight players in the world battling to end the year as the world champion.
Only Andy Roddick is missing through injury, so the line-up is ferociously strong, but despite that Djokovic looks a good bet after winning three of his last four tournaments and beating Federer and Nadal in the last two.
"I rate the World Tour Finals after Grand Slams as the biggest event in our sport, so being the title defender is a big responsibility, but I don't think I'm the favourite," he tells BBC Sport after the photo call ends.
"The best eight players are playing here and every single player in this tournament can win it."
Tennis is a sport that cries out for players with personality and Djokovic has that in spades, but it has not always worked to his advantage.
The sense of humour behind the uncanny impressions of fellow players and the karaoke performances on YouTube must have annoyed as many of his contemporaries as they amused.
His baiting of the New York crowd at the 2008 US Open after a spat with local hero Andy Roddick was ill advised to say the least.
And the limp end to his Australian Open title defence in January this year, when he retired in the fourth set of his quarter-final against Roddick in searing heat due to "cramping and soreness", did not endear him to many.
It was the fourth time he had failed to finish a match and, fairly or unfairly, that tag can follow a player around.
But in recent weeks we have seen the fierce competitor return and, sitting in a grand Thameside hotel ahead of the season-ending finale, Djokovic is as cheerful, humble and generous with praise as you could expect an elite sportsman to be.
Much has changed since he suffered a miserable title defence in Australia, and he admits that the pressure of being a Grand Slam champion took its toll.
"This year in Australia I faced for the first time the role of defending a major title, a Grand Slam title, and it wasn't really a fun time to be honest," he said.
"I was mentally very frustrated at times and had a lot of ups and downs in the matches, and unfortunately I finished in the quarter-finals the way I finished... but on the bright side I learned a lot of things, I tried to take the best out of it."
He lost to Murray in the Miami Masters final in March and the Scot took his number three ranking in May, but Djokovic remained impressively consistent during the clay-court season with final appearances in Monte Carlo, Rome and Belgrade, and a truly epic semi-final defeat by Nadal in Madrid.
"There were a lot of things going through my mind at the start of the year when I didn't play that well, but I didn't think that I dropped one spot in the rankings because I played bad," he said.
"It's because Andy Murray played really well."
It's remarkable that Djokovic remained so consistent while struggling for confidence at times and dealing with a change of racquet and fitness regime, and he regained the number three ranking from Murray last month.
Djokovic beat Nikolay Davydenko to win last year's final in Shanghai
"I had a lot of reasons that I don't need to talk about now but the positive thing is that I regained that confidence in myself and I'm able to play the aggressive game I always wanted to play.
"I've managed to do that in the last four tournaments. Physically I've dedicated a lot of time to fitness and I've been working hard in the last three, four months.
"Now it's paying off because I have the feeling I can survive in those long five-set matches and still be quite fresh after three hours and play like that day after day.
"Today's tennis has become a very physical game but in the end of the day the difference between the top guys and the rest is that mental ability to play the right shots at the right time."
Coming into London on an 11-match winning streak means Djokovic is the man to watch at the O2 Arena, and after beating Federer in Basel two weeks ago and thrashing Nadal in Paris last week he feels confident he can challenge the top two.
"Anyone who says there is no fear at all is lying to you, there is always some kind of nervousness before the match, but I when I play them I just have the feeling that I want to win," he said.
"I've played so many matches against both of them and I've learned from those experiences, I've matured lately, so when I get to play them it's a big challenge but to win against those two guys is a big success."
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