Alex Corretja, one of the most personable men to have trod the tennis courts of the world, has joined Andy Murray’s coterie for the forthcoming clay-court season that can have a defining impact on the British No 1’s year. He will bring a smile to the company that will be to everyone’s favour.

The Spaniard, twice a finalist at the French Open and a former world No 2 who has spent three years since his retirement building a career on TV, teams up with Murray and Miles Maclagan, the Scot’s coach, for the Valencia Open, which starts on April 14, and will remain for the entirety of the spring stretch.

It is hard to see how this can not be to the advantage of Murray, for Corretja is about as open as they come and has vast experience of what it takes to win on the most physically demanding surface of all. “I have seen that he has tremendous potential to play well on everything and I am flattered to be part of his team during the clay-court season,” Corretja said.

Roger Federer took the decision three months ago to play an extra week on clay this spring to provide the surest possible platform for an assault on the French Open — the grand-slam tournament that separates him from the sport’s ultimate glory.

The world No 1 chose the homely Estoril Open in Portugal as the venue for his first experience before he competes in three Masters Series events in Monte Carlo, Rome and Hamburg and then arrives in Paris in late May. In what mood, or form, he will be in in seven weeks is the subject holding the sport in thrall.

For someone who is used not to booking out of his hotel until Monday morning, a succession of Saturday departures is wearing thin. Federer’s 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 defeat by Andy Roddick in the quarter-finals of the Sony Ericsson Open here ended a run of 11 straight defeats for the American at the hands of the Swiss and is the latest shock wave for tennis to absorb.