Melbourne, Jan. 14 : British tennis star Andy Murray has said that he not afraid or nervous about confronting thirteen-time Grand Slam champion and Swiss Roger Federer anymore.

"I don''t get nervous when I play you (Federer) any more," the Daily Telegraph quoted Murray, as saying.

Melbourne - Roger Federer stepped up his preparation for the Australian Open as he claimed his eighth career victory over Carlos Moya 6-2, 6-3 on Wednesday's opening day at the AAMI Classic.

Joining Federer as a winner at the promotion-relegation event was Olympic doubles partner Stan Wawrinka, with the number 16 hammering off-form Marcos Baghdatis 6-2, 6-2.

Fernando Verdasco of Spain beat Croatian Marin Cilic 6-2, 7-5 while Chile's Fernando Gonzalez showed the bebefits of two and a half months off in a defeat of Croatian Ivan Ljubicic 6-4, 6-3.

Melbourne - Roger Federer will begin his Australian Open tuneup on Wednesday at the AAMI Classic, ignoring bookmaker chatter that his Grand Slam title hopes are under siege from newcomer Andy Murray.

The Swiss takes on old foe Carlos Moya in the eight-man event which runs through Saturday, providing the field with top practise for the Open which begins on Monday.

The fact that Murray and Federer are tipped at an equal 3.50 dollars (one dollar earns 3.50 back) to win the Open by Australian oddsmakers took the Swiss by surprise.

Melbourne, - Roger Federer has been noted as one of the 300 richest people in Switzerland by business magazine Bilanz, with a net worth estimated at between 100 and 160 million dollars.

While the world number two heads the all-time ATP prize money list on 43 million dollars in prize money and counting, most of Federer's earnings occur off-court under the tutelage of IMG, which is said to have trebled his annual income to around 35 million dollars.

Zurich - Roger Federer will play only two tune-up events on clay in 2009, ahead of the only Grand Slam he has never won, the French Open.

The former world number one Federer said on his website that he will play at the Madrid and Rome 1000 Series (formerly Masters Series) events ahead of the May 24 French Open start in Paris.

Switzerland's Federer played four events on the dirt this year, but was beaten for the third time in a row by new number one Rafael Nadal of Spain in the Roland Garros final.

Clay is his least favourite surface.

Shanghai  - Novak Djokovic has become a massive danger to the 2009 fightback dreams of Roger Federer after the resurgent Serb won the Masters Cup title at the weekend.

Through his 6-1, 7-5 defeat of Nikolay Davydenko at the Qi Zhong stadium, world number three Djokovic has now climbed to within a hair-thin 10 points of the Swiss star, who was knocked out in the group stage at a year-end event for the first time in his career as he lost to Andy Murray.