Yesterday’s visit to the O2 arena to watch Andy Murray’s 2-1 set victory over Spain’s Fernando Verdasco in the ATP World Tour finals was, by far, my live sporting highlight for 2009.

As part of a Seven46 away day, I went along to watch Britain’s number one ranked tennis star (and the world’s number four) play his third match of the end-of-season round robin competition.

The new roof at Wimbledon has proved that you can play top-class tennis under cover. But in the dark? In Greenwich? In a hall normally reserved for the world’s biggest music stars? I’ll be honest and say that I wasn’t expecting much.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. The second I stepped into the O2 arena I was blown away. The whole hall was covered in darkness save for the tennis court which was bathed in a fluorescent blue light. The interior stands rose high into the shadows and music blasted from all four corners of the arena. The room was packed full of people of all ages and backgrounds. It was Wimbledon on heat.

In the end we were treated to a fantastic match. Murray went 1-0 up before being pegged back to 1-1 by his fearless Spanish opponent. The third set went all the way to a tie-break and after worrying his fans with a few silly errors the Scot prevailed with a 7-3 points win.

Fast forward a couple of hours though and all his hard work amounted to nothing. A win for Juan Martin del Potro against Roger Federer in the evening session saw Murray eliminated – by one game(!) from the competition.

But that didn’t stop me from promising myself that I’d be back next year. The finals will be returning to the O2 for the next four years and I’ll be there in 2010 – hopefully to see my fellow Scot lift a deserved Masters title!