Andy Murray heads into the ATP World Tour Finals as the favourite to secure the season-ending world No 1 spot, so what are Sky Bet offering?
The Scot leapfrogged Novak Djokovic to command pole position in the world rankings for the first time in his career by winning the Paris Masters for the first time.
He will also be looking to triumph at the O2 Arena for the first time, knowing a fifth successive title will assure him the season-ending No 1 spot.
However, he will be more than aware of an inevitable backlash from Djokovic, who has endured a run of poor form since completing the career Grand Slam at the French Open back in June.
Tour Finals: Panel predictions
The Sky Sports panel offer their predictions
Their contrasting runs of form see Murray arrive as Sky Bet's 6/5 favourite, despite Djokovic (6/4) winning the last four editions of the season-ending showpiece. With the various permutations factored in, Murray is 8/13 to end the year as No 1.
As we will explore, such are the doubts surrounding Djokovic, even a worst possible draw has seen the newly-dominant Murray retain his position at the head of the betting.
THE DRAW
You __can often look at a draw in various ways and find positives to counter the negatives. That's not the case here for Murray.
Firstly, he was handed the highest-ranked player in each round of the draw, seeing him face the third, fifth and seventh seeds in Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori and Marin Cilic.
The trio also represent the third, fourth and fifth favourites in Sky Bet's outright market despite the difficulty of their group, with Wawrinka 10/1 in the betting while Nishikori and Cillic are 18/1 apiece.
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The Scot lost his most recent meetings with Nishikori and Cilic, while his victory over Wawrinka at the French Open ended a three-match losing streak against the Swiss. Indeed, he has lost his last hardcourt clashes with all three opponents.
In stark contrast, Djokovic boasts a 23-0 head-to-head record against players in his group, while none of his opponents arrives in the sort of form to suggest they __can stop that from turning into 26-0.
Dominic Thiem and Gael Monfils are 33/1 and 22/1 shots as they make their tournament debuts, while Milos Raonic is given a 20/1 chance, having lost his only two previous matches at the event in 2014.
Murray's group will also start a day later, meaning a finalist from that half will have to play five matches in seven days.
This obviously hasn't been a problem in his last four events but he's had walkovers in the last two and won the other two without dropping a set. This week will certainly offer a far more physically demanding challenge.
THE SURFACE
Indoor events once handed an advantage to the aggressive, big-serving players, but the counter-punching Djokovic has dismissed that idea as little more than a myth in recent years.
He has, however, been aided by slowing courts in the tour's two main indoor events, in Paris and London, but the organisers appear to have opted to mix things up again.
They were playing faster in Paris this year, helping Cilic, Raonic and John Isner make the last four, although Murray did claim the crown, while the World Tour Finals have also confirmed the O2 court speed "is aimed to be consistent with Paris".
EVENT HISTORY
The World Tour Finals is only in its eighth year in its current incarnation, having switched from the Masters Cup in 2009. That change prompted the switch from Shanghai to the O2 Arena.
The season-ending event has largely been dominated by the top seeds, with Roger Federer and Djokovic sharing all but two of the last 13 titles of the season-ending event.
It has seen a couple of upsets in recent years, with David Nalbandian triumphing in 2005 while Nikolay Davydenko was victorious in 2009.
PREDICTION
With the fresh motivation of losing his No 1 spot, will we get a backlash from Djokovic this week? Or will we see the continuation of his uninspiring post-French Open form?
I'm leaning towards the former on the basis that he can rebuild confidence and form from a favourable group and still boasts an utterly-dominant record against whoever progresses from the other half.
World No 1 permutations
Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and world No 1 permutations at ATP World Tour Finals
Murray is undoubtedly playing the best tennis on tour right now but his recent run has crucially not involved a victory over Djokovic, meaning their head-to-head remains 24-10 in favour of the Serb.
The odds certainly suggest it is a two-horse race but Wawrinka and Cilic have both shown a knack of upsetting the odds in recent years.
Wawrinka's 10-2 dominance of Cilic makes his the second favourite to win their group, but his form is typically tough to read, having suffered upsets to players ranked 32 or lower in his four events since winning the US Open.
Cilic is the only player other than Juan Martin del Potro to have beaten both Murray and Djokovic this season so would be my each-way pick at 18/1.
Murray v Djokovic: Is the race won?
Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic: Their previous meetings
However, I'm predicting a final showdown between the top two seeds with the No 1 status on the line, with the prevailing head-to-head record making me side with the greatest hardcourt player of all time to regain his position at the summit.
Djokovic to beat Murray in the final - 4/1 with Sky Bet
Check our game-by-game coverage from all group matches at the ATP World Tour Finals in London - including Andy Murray - on skysports.com/tennis, our app for mobile devices and iPad and our Twitter account @skysportstennis.
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