Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic
Djokovic and Murray have gone in vastly different directions since their last meeting at the French Open. Getty Images

Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic will bring the curtain down on the 2016 season when they duel for the year-end world number one in the final of the ATP World Tour Finals at The O2 Arena.

Where to watch live

Murray vs Djokovic/Nishikori starts at 6pm GMT and is live on Sky Sports 3HD, BBC Two HD and BBC Radio Five Live sports extra.

Preview

Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic will bring a fitting curtain down on the 2016 when they duel for the year-end world number one in the final of the ATP World Tour Finals in London. The clash sees the season given the finale it deserves with the planet's top two players battling it out to end the campaign at the summit of the sport for the first time in the tournament's history

Both men endured contrasting routes to the final on Sunday [20 November]. Murray came through another marathon match against Milos Raonic, last three hours and 38 minutes during which the world number one saved a match point. Djokovic meanwhile cruised through his last four clash with Kei Nishikori without breaking sweat, dropping just two games to the Japan number one.

A rivalry which stretches back to when the two players were juniors has seen the pair face-off 34 times. But the direction each player has gone since their last meeting at the French Open when Djokovic completed the career grand slam in the final could not be more different.

Andy Murray
Murray produced another gutsy display to march into his maiden final at the season-ending tour finals. Getty Images

Murray went on to win the Wimbledon title for a second time, become the first man to retain Olympic singles gold at Rio 2016 and win four tournaments in a row to surge to the top of the ATP rankings - all after reuniting with coach Ivan Lendl. Four straight victories for the first time at the season-ending tour finals sees Murray go within a win of finishing the year at world number, which would make him the first Briton to do so.

Djokovic meanwhile has suffered in the wake of claiming his 12th grand slam title. A third round exit to Sam Querrey at SW19, a first round shock defeat to Juan Martin del Potro at Rio 2016 and failure to defend his Masters 1000 titles in Shanghai and Paris has seen his campaign fall apart at the seams and a drop to world number two.

Amid the 29-year-old's struggles, he has curiously continued to add to his backroom team. Pepe Imaz is the latest addition to a team which already includes Boris Becker and Marian Vajda and though there are questions over the role of the trio the combination have helped oversee Djokovic's return to form.

The Australian and French Open champion has improved with every victory in the English capital, growing with confidence as he has seen off Dominic Thiem, Milos Raonic, David Goffin and then Nishikori - with barely a cause for alarm. However, there remain questions over how Djokovic will respond to facing player currently enjoying a 23-match winning run.

What the players say:

Andy Murray: "Obviously tomorrow is the last day for a while, get a break after that. I'll just give my best of what I've got tomorrow. Hopefully it's enough. In terms of winning against Novak or beating Novak, you can only beat the players that are in front of you. I can't do any more than that. I've done that this week. I've beat three guys in the top five in the world, which some people were not happy that I hadn't won against the top five players.

"Then it will be the top two players, then top one. There's always something that's wrong with what you're doing. The guys ahead of me have had that, as well. I'm sure with Novak, it's been like, Roger's injured or Rafa's injured. You can only beat who you're playing against. I've done that the last few months.

Novak Djokovic
Djokovic breezed into the final with a sublime display in the second semi-final. Getty Images

"Experiences can help in some ways and can be negative in some ways, as well. Maybe you know sort of the right shots to play, but you're more aware of the consequences of making those shots and also missing them, as well. Especially towards the end of the matches, you know, sometimes the young players in those situations, they sort of go for shots without thinking. I think as you get older, the tendency is to think a little bit more. It has positives and negatives - experience - I think."

Novak Djokovic: "We all know there is a lot on the line. The results, I can't predict. I can't expect anything except to really get myself in the right state of mind and try to perform as well as I did tonight. That's going to be my only goal.

"Other than that, I must say that I'm very honored to be part of the history. I hear this is the first time in the history of the ATP that the two best players are deciding the rankings in the last match. That is something we should all be conscious of. I'm excited to go out on the court and battle.

"As I said, all I can do is really be in the moment, just digest what I've managed to achieve here tonight, take really some positive stuff. There's a lot of positive things to take from this match. I'll take it to tomorrow's match. Concerning the finals we played this year, tomorrow's final will probably be side to side to the Roland Garros final. It's the two biggest finals we will probably play. So that's all I can say."

Betting odds (source Betfair):

Andy Murray 13/8 vs 1/2 Novak Djokovic

Head-to-head record: Murray 10-24 Djokovic. Last match French Open (clay) Djokovic bt Murray 3-6 6-1 6-2 6-4

Previous meetings at the ATP World Tour Finals: Murray 0-1 Djokovic . last match Djokovic bt Murray 4-6 6-3 7-5