Andy Murray ready to defend title in Rio

Half of the ATP top 10 will be absent from Brazil, with Roger Federer (knee), Stan Wawrinka (back), Milos Raonic, Tomas Berdych (Zika fears, both) and Dominic Thiem (unknown) all absent.

Murray heads into the event as defending champion, but predicts it will not be a tricky mental obstacle to overcome as he returns to the court following his Wimbledon triumph.

"The only time when defending a title has felt a bit strange to me was at Wimbledon because you come out and open the tournament and there's quite a big thing surrounding who's playing the first match on Centre Court," he said.

"Here it's totally different conditions, different venue, different country, so I'll try and treat it like any other tournament and prepare as best I can," he told reporters.

"I remember when I was in Beijing (in 2008), the whole atmosphere surrounding an Olympics is different because you're around loads of the best athletes in the world.

"It was just nice being surrounded by the best athletes from your country, seeing them coming back with medals, it feels a lot more like a team environment."

Murray beat Djokovic en route to winning the Olympic title in London four years ago – a triumph that sparked a fine run of form, which saw him clinch the US Open and Wimbledon titles over the next 12 months.

"It's unfortunate with Roger and Stan, they're two guys that are both great players and capable of winning events like this so it's a shame that they aren't here," Murray added.

"But it's still a pretty strong field, a lot of the top-20 players are here even if unfortunately there's a few of the top 10 missing."