Federer questions Murray favoritism

MELBOURNE: Roger Federer usually starts as favorite to win the Australian Open, so he wanted to know who had the audacity to install Andy Murray ahead of him.

Federer arrived in Australia over the weekend after losing to Murray in the semifinals at Doha, Qatar. Yesterday, he faced a news conference for the Kooyong exhibition tournament, his traditional tuneup for the year's first major.

Some British bookies listed Murray as favorite in the betting for the Jan 19-Feb 1 event after he defended his Doha title and won an exhibition at Abu Dhabi, also featuring Federer and Rafael Nadal.