Willie Murray will always remember the week after Wimbledon five years ago, when he drove his younger son, Andy, to his first tournament as a professional, an ATP Challenger on the grass courts of Didsbury, near Manchester. The 16-year-old Andy defeated Wesley Moodie, a 6ft-plus South African with a booming serve, and in his second match faced Neville Godwin, also from South Africa, who made up for his lack of inches by doing all he could to intimidate the kid.

Although the youthful Andy found a way to win - a quality he has never lacked - that teenage ability to handle anything that was thrown at him is the impression that is etched on Murray Sr's mind, more so than defeat by Luke Bourgeois, an Australian, in the third round. “I said to Andy he just had to ignore what he [Godwin] was saying about him because it was only envy that Andy was so much better,” he said yesterday. “I've never really had any worries for him since then.”

The Wimbledon quarter-finalist's father recalled those formative days as he counted the hours to the fascinating duel with Rafael Nadal on Centre Court today, which promises to be another defining chapter in his son's grand-slam development. One wondered how he remained calm as he watched Andy's extraordinary victory over Richard Gasquet on Monday. When the cameras focused on him (on the rare interruptions to their enduring fascination with Judy, Andy's mother), he appeared the personification of calm. “It wasn't always that way,” Willie said. “I was pretty nervous for Andy and Jamie on Saturday. I'm not sure why, but they had tough matches, which they came through. Against Gasquet, I was fine. And I know Andy can look after himself now.”

The days of the protective father are long gone and Willie says that he is going to relish today's match, when he will be seated across the aisle from Toni Nadal, who has steered his nephew to many remarkable triumphs by insisting that he adhered to the principles that the family refuses to forsake - that Rafael plays the game and lives his life with honesty and respect. And that he never gives in.

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For the first time, Murray looked like a man of destiny

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The prospects for today are mouth-watering. Nadal has won each of their three matches. In the first of them, in the fourth round of the Australian Open in 2007, he recovered from two sets to one down and gradually eroded Murray's resistance. The tennis was of a standard that warmed the cockles on a teeth-chattering Melbourne evening. Murray had break points galore in the last couple of sets, but could not capitalise on them.

Murray's remarks that evening are worth recalling: “The guy [Nadal] is ridiculously strong. He's been like that since he was 16, 17. Gasquet said when he played him at the French Open he felt like he had to do a lot of growing up. You look at his body, you look at me, [Novak] Djokovic, Gasquet, [Gaël] Monfils, we're obviously not as physically strong as him. But about a year, year and a half, I don't think there will be any physical differences.”

Here we are, a year and a half on, and Murray is flexing his biceps at the fitness team who have done so much to persuade him that adhering to a rigorous training regimen is half the battle. As is one's attitude in practice. On Monday, Nadal hit with Janko Tipsarevic, the Serb who hardly laid a racket on the ball for half an hour and promptly went out and lost to Rainer Schüttler, the German. Nadal is full-on, full-time.

When he did not practise at his appointed time yesterday, rumours swept through Wimbledon that the injury he suffered early on against Mikhail Youzhny in the fourth round had become a crisis. In fact, he was sightseeing in London with Ana María, his mother, and María Isabel, his sister, who arrived in London on Monday evening. He returned to the courts in the evening and attacked the ball with his usual relish.

There are those who believe that Nadal has never played better than he is right now, on any surface, even his beloved clay. He can exert so much vicious spin; indeed, the International Tennis Federation-commissioned evidence as to how many rotations per minute a tennis ball spins on average found that the figure of 2,500, which is the norm, rises to between 4,000 and 5,000 when Nadal whips his racket beneath it, or over it. On grass, where the ball stays relatively low, this is a hugely destructive weapon.

But Willie Murray is right, Andy can take care of himself now. The nation is expectant.

Tips for beating Rafael Nadal

John Lloyd, the Great Britain Davis Cup captain, lists the dos and don'ts for Andy Murray against Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon today.

Do . . .

¤ Make sure you get a decently high percentage of first serves in because you need to get your strike in first, otherwise you will spend too much time running around chasing Nadal's fearsome ground strokes.

¤ Remember that in Australia in 2007 your double-handed backhand, when you stepped up and struck it with real purpose, especially down the line, brought you so many points. For the first two sets there, it was the dominant stroke of the match.

¤ Remain aggressive throughout.

Don't . . .

¤ Let that second serve get too short, otherwise Nadal runs around it and strikes his forehand where he wants and you are behind the eight ball.

¤ Overuse the drop shot because you are playing the fastest guy on the tour.

¤ Be afraid to go for his forehand sometimes, because you need to go up against his strength and your backhand crosscourt is one of your finest shots.