Both are on his favoured hard court surface and he has form in both: at last year's US Open he lost in the final to Federer while in Shanghai he reached the semi-final of a tournament that involves just the top eight players in the world. Murray has
become more attacking and aggressive, taking control of games more naturally, especially against lesser-ranked players. This, combined with better physical stamina, means he has more grunt towards the end of big tournaments.
LIONS• Geech's 2009 Lions will win the Test series 2-1 against a South Africa side handicapped by inept leadership from coach Peter de Villiers. The Lions squad will contain a greater number of Scots than 2005 – as long as injuries don't intervene, there are four Scots who will definitely go and who should find themselves pushing for a Test spot – while the tour will be followed around the veldt by the biggest group of travelling rugby supporters ever assembled. England will have its smallest contingent since Gareth Edwards was playing, and Alastair Campbell will be nowhere to be seen.
SIX NATIONS• As long as Phil Godman is fit and in the side, Scotland will score more tries in this Six Nations than in any under Frank Hadden's tenure. Not only is the bar not particularly high (three in 2008, six in 2007, five in 2006) but Scotland have a lot going for them, not least a pack that is at least as good as any in the Championship and a back three that can score tries. Most importantly, Scotland now have a settled midfield and Hadden seems increasingly aware that tries win games. Wales, Ireland and Italy at home is as good as it gets, while Scotland will have no choice but to open up away from home, as they memorably did when scoring three tries in the 46-19 defeat at the Stade de France in 2007. France and England, who they play away, are as weak as at any stage in recent memory.
FOOTBALL• Gordon Strachan will leave Celtic. Even winning a third SPL title in a row didn't impress some Celtic fans and despite being on course for a fourth successive title, the pressure seems to be showing with the mercurial manager walking out of press conferences and finding himself embroiled in an ugly spat with Aiden McGeady. There will also be a substantial number of managerial positions becoming available in the English Premier League.
• Aiden McGeady will not be joining Bayern Munich. The chances are that the queue of English clubs willing to slap down £8-10m for the unsettled Celt will prove equally illusory, and any interested clubs will come from the bottom third of the league – rather than McGeady's envisaged future at Old Trafford or Anfield. As Walter Smith found while intermittently trying to shift Kris Boyd for the past two years, coming from the league that gave England Shaun Maloney and Barry Ferguson isn't much of a recommendation for English managers yet to be convinced that the SPL can be a reliable source of top-quality players.
• Sir Alex Ferguson will turn down an offer of managing a Great Britain team at the 2012 London Olympics.
FORMULA ONE• The changes in Formula One's format mean that there will be considerably more overtaking than ever before in 2009. Even though there has been an increase in the number of difficult-to-overtake street circuits, the teams will be better-matched and can no longer rely on overtaking via pit-stops. Also, the latest generation of racers is more dynamic and more inclined to risk all.
GOLF• 2009 will be the year of golf rivalries. Instead of Tiger v Mickelson or Els, it will be Tiger v Harrington as the injured No.1 and the Irishman slug it out. Tiger has timed his return for The Masters, but will still be woefully under-prepared. It won't matter though: last year's US Open showed what a half-fit Tiger can do, and he'll take the 2009 green jacket.
• Michelle Wie will win her first major, prompting a rejuvenated Annika Sorenstam to reconsider her break from the game (have you actually seen her say anywhere she's retiring?).
• If arthritis-plagued Spaniard José Maria Olazábal, who is the players' choice for 2010 Ryder Cup captain, decides he is fit enough to play in another Ryder Cup, then Sandy Lyle will be elected as skipper for the shindig at Celtic Manor in Wales. Realistically, this is the Scot's last chance. If he gets it – and it's a 50/50 shout – expect him to appoint Ken Brown as his chief gopher.
THE ASHES• England will beat an Australia side in steep decline to win the Ashes in a five-Test series that will contain two or three draws. With two sides of roughly equal batting capabilities, the winners will be the better bowling side. Aussie quickie Mitchell Johnston is remorselessly deadly but can't do it on his own, while Brett Lee rarely performs well in Blighty, Stuart Clark is still out and they have no spinner. England have the best bowler in Freddie Flintoff, and if two of Sidebottom, Jones or Harmison are available, the Poms should shade it even if Monty Panesar continues to make little or no contribution.
CYCLING• Look for more unprecedented heroics from Chris Hoy at the world championships at the end of March in Poland. It's a truism that the year after the Olympics is a year of transition, and events certainly bear that out: after Athens, no gold medal winner of either sex also won gold at the world championships. Hoy is absolutely determined to change that and starts a five-week training camp in Australia next week designed to see him win gold in the keirin, sprint and team sprint in Poland. Also look for Hoy to beat one of the most outstanding world records in any sport in May when rumours suggest he will try to beat Theo Bos's remarkable time of 9.772 in the flying 200m. Until Hoy broke 9.9secs in Beijing, no one else had come within two hundredths of Bos's time. Instead of going for the record in Bolivia, Hoy will apparently go for it at the same sea-level track in Moscow where Bos set the record in the first place.
