Lob and Smash
Fansided

Mubadala Championship – Andy Murray to open 2015 against Gael Monfils

By Geoff Nichols

facebooktwitterreddit

Mubadala Championship – Andy Murray to open 2015 season against Gael Monfils

Following the announcement of the draw for the 2015 Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, we now know the schedule of the first day of play and who is in action. Play gets under way on the 1st of January as six of the world’s top stars content an exhibition tournament to kick-start their 2015 season.

The schedule for Round 1 is below, with Andy Murray facing Gael Monfils in the first match of the week. It is the first time the pair face-off since their epic five set encounter at the French Open, which Murray edged through, ultimately bageling Monfils in the final set. Murray leads the head to head over Monfils 4-2 and with both players so strong in the defence department, some entertaining rallies are almost guaranteed.

The winner of the contest will get the first shot at Rafael Nadal of 2015, with either man likely to fancy their chances against a potentially rusty Spaniard. The second game of the day features Davis Cup and Australian Open champions Stan Wawrinka taking on crowd favourite Jo Wilfried Tsonga. Tsonga ought to look to Wawrinka for inspiration inn turning a good career into a great one. The Swiss man looked to be resigned to Federer’s shadow, but has come out fighting in the last year.

Wawrinka levelled the head to head between the two men to 3-3 with his victory in the opening rubber of the Davis Cup Final, but the pair have only met once on a hard court and that was al the way back in 2007. It will provide an indicator as to the motivation levels of both men and how much work they put in over the off season. Wawrinka experienced a post-Australian Open lull and will be looking to kick-on from the Davis Cup triumph at the Mubadala Championship.

First and second seeds respectively, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal both receive byes through to the next round of the Mubadala Championship and will play the winners of the Round 1 games on the 2nd of January. All matches will be a best of three sets affair, with tie breaks in the final set. The surface in recent years has tended to be a relatively fast hard court, which has made for some entertaining matches as players try out new things ahead of the new season.

Follow lobandsmash.com to keep up to date with the latest information at the Mudabala World Tennis Championship in January 2015.

More from Lob and Smash

Home/Andy Murray