It wasn’t quite the dream draw but nor was it the nightmare it could have been as Andy Murray avoided Roger Federer but drew Rafael Nadal in the group stages of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, which begin in London on Sunday.

Seeded No 2, Murray was always going to be separated from world No 1 Novak Djokovic but given the rankings, he could have found himself alongside both Federer and Nadal in his round-robin group.

As it is, he will play world No 4 Stan Wawrinka, No 5 Nadal and No 8 David Ferrer in the “Ilie Nastase Group” while Djokovic, Federer, Tomas Berdych and Kei Nishikori will contest the “Stan Smith Group”.

“All three matches are going to be tough,” said Murray, suited and booted for the official draw.

Two group stage wins would secure Murray the No 2 end-of-year ranking for the first time while Federer has to win the title to stand a chance of overtaking him.

Murray may have one eye on this month’s Davis Cup final in Belgium but also wants to do well at a tournament where he has never gone beyond the semi-finals.

“It's been a long year but I'm also experiencing things I've never experienced before so I am also excited,” he said yesterday. “That's given me a lot of motivation for the last couple of weeks. Body feels good, I feel fresh and hope I can play some good tennis.”

Jamie Murray, in the season-ending finals for the first time alongside Australian John Peers, will play the world’s top-ranked pair, Mike and Bob Bryan, Fabio Fognini and Simone Bolelli and Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea.

Meanwhile, it was confirmed last night that the finals will continue to be staged in London until at least 2018. Despite reported interest from a number of countries, including the USA and nations in the Middle East, the eight-man event will stay at the O2 for another three years.

Barclays, which has sponsored the event since it moved to London from Shanghai in 2009, will continue to be the lead sponsor in 2016 and though reports say that will be their last involvement, nothing is confirmed beyond next year.

World No 1 Novak Djokovic has suggested it might be time for the event to move while Rafael Nadal is among those who would like to see the tournament to be played on another surface – preferably clay – at least once.

But such has been the commercial success of London, with a tournament record crowd of 263,350 last year and a television audience of more than 100 million for the first time – that an extension always seemed likely.

“We are delighted to have reached an agreement which will see the tournament celebrate its 10th successive year in London in 2018, ATP chief Chris Kermode said last night. “The tournament has been a spectacular success since moving to the O2 in 2009. For us there is currently no better place to stage our season-ending event.