Andy Murray will play his first match since returning from back surgery in Abu Dhabi, with his sights already firmly set on reaching a fourth career Australian Open final.
Murray has been undergoing a rigorous pre-season training regime in Florida in a bid to recover from the surgery, stopping just long enough to pick up the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.
The world’s top four players are all in Abu Dhabi for the tenuously-titled World Tennis Championships, where they will seek valuable preparation time in a tournament that uses similar courts and equipment to those to be found in Melbourne.
Murray said: “Everyone is looking for matches at the beginning of the year and not all of the tournaments in the build-up are played on blue courts, or with Aussie Open balls.
“Before grand slams, if you can make it as close as you can to what the top players like to play in, you are going to get strong fields. It’s just good preparation.”
Far from struggling for new motivation after ending his nation’s long wait for a Wimbledon men’s singles champion last summer, Murray is intent on building on his two grand slam titles to date.
He will have plenty of incentive heading to Melbourne, where he lost finals in 2010, 2011 and last year, when he took the first set against Novak Djokovic before eventually succumbing in four.
Murray told Sky Sports News: “I might not win another one but I just want to give myself the best chance to do that and that’s why we do the work over here and train and prepare as best as we can.”