For Andy Murray to succeed in his desired aim of being bracketed among the world's top 12 to 15 players on red clay he will require an extraordinary leap of faith - and form - in the next five weeks. The present estimates have Murray's record on clay as 30 per cent worse than his achievements elsewhere, one of the poorest among the ATP Tour's 50 best players.

The clay campaign has arrived here, for the BNL D'Italia Masters, and although there is a mass of reconstruction taking place at the Foro Italico, the essence of the old theatre is unchanged across the decades. The courts are slightly quicker, the matches more tumultuous, the edge a little sharper. Hopefully, the British No1, who has not won a match here, will rise to the surroundings.

Today, he plays Juan Martin Del Potro, an Argentine qualifier ranked No75, and if his practice session against Guillermo Canas, Del Potro's compatriot yesterday, was a form guide, it may be a torrid experience. When Murray is dismayed with himself, or more especially with his racket strings and how they respond to meeting the ball, those in the vicinity certainly know it.

“Not many people expect me to play well on clay and the players probably don't think I can either so this is a perfect chance for me to learn more about it and myself,” he said yesterday. “Obviously, indoors and especially on grass I feel I'm a lot better than many of the other guys and I'm not going to have much to boast about in terms of my clay skills until I start winning some matches, especially against the better players.”

One of those, Novak Djokovic, wanted to set the record straight on the reasons for his withdrawal from the semi finals in Monte Carlo ten days ago, with a sore throat. The Serb, condemned for quitting on his stool there against Roger Federer, said: “I'm very unhappy if I think that my reputation is being hurt by this. I always try to do the maximum to win, but I had an infection and I felt I would have been cheating the public more by trying to stay out there and play.”