Andy Murray takes step into unknown

The British number one has opted to forgo his title defence in Doha and play the mixed teams event in Perth for the first time as he seeks to acclimatise to conditions and the courts in Australia.

Murray, who will partner teenage rising talent Laura Robson as Great Britain's representatives in the eight-team tournament, is guaranteed three singles and mixed doubles matches in the round-robin format.

The Scot will kick-off his campaign against Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev today before matches against Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) and Igor Andreev (Russia) in Group B.

Murray has, however, only played the unfancied Kazakh player before - a straight sets win at St Petersburg in 2008 - and he admits he does not know what to expect.

"It will be interesting because I haven't played against Andreev or Kohlschreiber before and then with Kazakhstan I don't know them too well," said Murray who will also cover new territory in the mixed doubles when he partners the 15-year-old Robson for the first time.

"It will be good fun. I've not played a lot of mixed doubles, but Laura's our most talented junior.

"She's still so young, she's only 15. She's grown a lot in the past couple of years and I think she has the chance to be very good."

Murray believes the British pairing, who are ranked third for the tournament, can reach next Saturday's final and allow him an extra match preparation ahead of the Australian Open later this month.

"In the mixed doubles we should do okay," he said.
"Laura serves pretty well and returns good, but you just never know.

"It's the first tournament of the year, but if we play well we could do okay."

Murray is not scheduled to play another lead-up event after the Hopman Cup, but after revealing he will not accept a wildcard to the Sydney International next week he is confident he will be match-sharp for the Australian Open which starts on January 18.

"The advantage of coming to Perth is I'll play three matches here and obviously the mixed on top of that," he said.

"But I feel good. It's only been four weeks since London (ATP World Tour Finals) and I don't feel like I've been away from it too long.

"The plan is to go to Melbourne and maybe play a match. I don't plan to go to Sydney."