• Chris Wilkinson

London calling for Andy Murray

Andy Murray won his first title in 15 months at the Shenzhen Open © Getty Images

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ESPN's resident tennis expert and former British No.1 Chris Wilkinson gives his verdict on Andy Murray's chances of reaching the season-ending World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena, after the Scot finally won his first title since last summer's Wimbledon triumph...

Andy Murray's battling three-sets victory in the Shenzhen Open final against Tommy Robredo on Saturday was another one of those wins that's proved all of his critics wrong.

Andy Murray was overcome with emotion after his victory © Getty Images

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The emotions built up and Murray's tears of joy afterwards showed how important winning that tournament was to him. It just gives him that belief and confidence which he's been missing since his triumph at Wimbledon 15 months ago.

His form hasn't been great since last year's back operation and his split with Ivan Lendl, and maybe his relationship with Amelie Mauresmo hasn't quite formed yet.

The tweet which appeared to show his support for Scottish Independence before the referendum earlier this month maybe put a bit of profile on him too.

It will be back to business for Andy now, though. It's come at a good time for him to get away from it all in China and just concentrate on his tennis. When he's in London he's at home and people are obviously going to talk about it.

The partnership with Mauresmo still needs to form, but there have been positive signs over the hard court season. She wasn't in China last week but all new partnerships take time to pay dividends. Hopefully for him it's something that is starting to click.

Murray really dug deep against Robredo and had to save match points as he came from a set down. It was important to get some confidence back and a bit of belief.

He also needed those 250 points in his bid to reach the year-end World Tour finals, and he's back in the top 10 now so that's important.

He's here in Beijing, where I'll be commentating, and there are 500 points on offer, so if he has a good week then there is no reason that with a few more wins he'll be back up in the top eight, putting him in contention for London again.

Bouchard the next big thing?

Eugenie reached the Wuhan Open final © Getty Images

• The US Open showed that, if Serena Williams is fit and firing on all cylinders, there really isn't anyone on the women's side who can touch her.
• That might sound harsh on the other players, but you almost sense that they see it too. They're saying, "OK, Serena's ready, she's up for it, we haven't got a chance".
• While Serena was at her dominant best in New York, it was great to see Caroline Wozniacki back doing well, getting into a grand slam final. Again, she almost gave the impression she knew she was going to lose to her friend Serena. The pair are close and taking that relationship out of the match will have been a difficult thing to do.
• However, as with the men's side, there are some new names coming through. Despite going down in the fourth round at Flushing Meadows, Eugenie Bouchard was no flash in the pan this year. She's had an amazing 12 months and reached the final at the Wuhan Open at the weekend - where she was again beaten by Petra Kvitova, having lost in just 55 minutes to her in the Wimbledon final.
• The tricky thing for her is that, being a youngster, expectations will be weighing down on her and the hard-court season might have hit her at just the wrong time. She's too good a player not to come through, though.

Next week is Shanghai where there are another 500 points up for grabs before the Paris Masters event in a month's time. If he puts another good run together you would think that would be enough to reach the finals.

I'm confident he can do it. There are some good players here - obviously Rafael Nadal is making his return from the wrist injury that ruled him out of the US Open, as well as Cincinnati and Toronto where he was also defending champion.

Novak Djokovic is also here so it's going to be tough, but Murray has got the confidence having won last week. However, it's not just the other members of the 'big four' that Murray needs to worry about now.

The other guys coming through are getting more belief with these huge wins and will be thinking that if Marin Cilic can win a slam as he did in Flushing Meadows, then there's no reason why they can't either.

You've got Grigor Dimitrov, Milos Raonic and Kei Nishikori all making waves. It becomes tougher for the older guys - and I put Murray in that bracket now because he's been around for a while - because the younger guys are a bit keener.

From Murray's point of view, it's taken him a while to get fully fit again but he's going to have a good chance at the grand slams next year.

Djokovic struggled a bit at the US Open - he's just got married and is about to have a child. Roger Federer's also getting older and Nadal's just coming back from injury.

Murray's part of that group who have got a chance to win a slam and I think he'll be ready by the Australian Open. This next two months is important in showing where Murray is, in terms of whether he can start beating the top guys again.

His victory against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the US Open was obviously his first over a top 10 player since beating Djokovic at Wimbledon last year.

He needs to prove it against the top five guys now really, though, which is what he can do at the World Tour finals.

It's also important for the tournament and from the nation's point of view to have Murray playing at the O2 Arena. For me, it hasn't quite got the same pull without him.

A lot depends on what happens over the next few tournaments but if he has a good run here in Beijing and does well at one of the Masters events then he can definitely win it in London.

It's almost like when the US Open finishes, people think the year is over. But there are still a lot of points to be won and a lot of stories to be written over the next few months - hopefully Murray can end his season on a real high.

Chris Wilkinson is a former British No. 1, who now serves as a tennis commentator and as a coach for the LTA. He is ESPN.co.uk's resident expert, providing an exclusive view on the world of tennis.

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