Rafael Nadal is a tournament favourite, says Andy Murray

Nadal defeated Murray 6-4 6-1 in the ATP World Tour Finals

Andy Murray has said that Rafael Nadal is always one of the favourites to win titles after suffering a straight-sets defeat at the hands of the Spaniard in the pair’s group stage match at the ATP World Tour Finals in London, The Hindu reports.

Murray fell to Nadal 6-4,6-1 in the group stage match and can now only qualify for the semi-final of the tournament if he defeats Stan Wawrinka in his next group match on Friday.

The Scot was talking to the media after the match and heaped praise on his Spanish counterpart’s performance.

"He was hitting the ball extremely well from the back of the court, but I didn't really help myself," said Murray.

"I served poorly at the end of the first set and all through the second. That's not going to be good enough against him when he's playing that well," he added.

Nadal suffered an injury before the US Open in 2014, due to which his performances have seen a considerable dip. His ATP ranking has also fallen down to the fifth spot, however, the second-ranked Murray was easily beaten by the “King of Clay”.

“He obviously played better than he did when I played him earlier in the year,” the Wimbledon 2013 winner said.

“I think Rafael always practices pretty hard from what I see. Obviously he’s won a lot more matches in the second half of the year. He’s clearly playing better tennis now than a few months ago. Also I didn’t help myself out there,” he explained.

On the other hand, Nadal, whose path for the semi-finals was cleared after Wawrinka defeated David Ferrer later that day was happy with the victory.

"It's an important victory because it puts me in a good position to try to be in the semi-finals, and at the same time I have a big day against a great player on a tough surface," he said.

Nadal will face fellow Spaniard David Ferrer in his next group stage match to cement his top position on the group table.