London, Nov 8 : Britain’s No. 1 tennis player Andy Murray, who faces American Andy Roddick in his first Masters Cup match on Monday, does not rank the tournament as highly as a Grand Slam championship, but recognises that, “if you are in the top eight you know that you’ve had a great year.”

The world No. 4 has had a superb second-half in 2008 and identifies his form since being eliminated by Spaniard Rafael Nadal at the quarterfinal stage of Wimbledon in June as the most satisfying aspect of his season.

Murray makes his Masters Cup debut in Shanghai with Roger Federer, Andy Roddick and Gilles Simon in his group.

“In the last three or four months the guys that I’ve lost to since Wimbledon - Nadal, Federer, Nalbandian - have been top-class,” he said.

Murray, 21, has his long-range sights set on the Australian Open in January, where he will be one of the favourites, The Sun reported.

“I don’t think being the world No 1 is possible right now. Nadal and Federer are much better on the surfaces than I am. I need to improve my clay-court and grass-court games,” he said.

“On hard courts I’m not that far behind. It’s not my ambition at the moment to be world No 1. I want to try to win a Grand Slam. If I can do that then I’ll go after No 1,” Murray added.

Murray has enjoyed a fantastic end to the season and he believes a big factor was getting used to ‘Team Murray’ — his coach, two fitness trainers and a physio.

“My consistency is way better than it was, especially in the bigger tournaments. I’m not giving away many free points or easy games. I’m just able to focus and play hard for the whole match. And the physical stuff I’ve done has given me more power on my serve,” he revealed. (ANI)