See how Murray and Nadal compare

The statistics, according to Jez Green, Andy Murray's fitness coach, are that a top player will change direction every 1.1 seconds, which equates to 4.2 times per average point and between 300 and 600 explosive movements per match.

One clear reason why Murray prevailed in his signature five-set victory over Richard Gasquet on Monday evening and why he has a fighter's chance of repeating it against Rafael Nadal today is that Murray is now physically equipped to cope. Another is that Murray does not have one strength coach, he has two. And a third is that, at the end of last year, they put him on an intensive training programme from which he gained nearly nine pounds of muscle.

When he measured his body-fat ratio before the Artois Championships at Queen's Club, in West London, last month, he registered 6.5 per cent, which is a long way from most leading club players (12 per cent) and closer to a professional bodybuilder (3 to 4 per cent), who would tear a muscle merely swinging a racket.

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This explains why Murray signed off on Monday with that curious bicep flex. It was not, he said, a challenge to the muscular Spaniard who stands in his path. It was, instead, a nod to Team Murray and the work they have done to build a physique to go the full five sets.

The stark contrast here is with the same athlete whose Centre Court debut three years ago against David Nalbandian was another five-setter but one in which, athletically, he could not cope. Cramp and fatigue set in during the fifth set and the Argentinian pounced to seal it 6-1.

In those days, the advice that Murray followed was to go easy on the weights: his muscles and bones were still developing and excessive gym work would have created the risk of stress fractures. Not so now.

Nine months ago, Murray recruited Green, 35, a former amateur kickboxer with a twice-broken nose, as his “physical conditioner”. Team Murray in the gym consists of Green, Matty Little, a 31-year-old Charlton Athletic fan who is his “strength and conditioning coach” and a 20-kilogram weight belt with which he does chin-ups in three sets of five.

The way Team Murray sees it, there is more to come; indeed, the project to bulk him up is halfway through. The target weight is 13st 7lb; he is at present nearer to 13st.

The weight gain is a careful calculation. Taking it too far would limit agility, the correct extra poundage, according to Green, can give his strokes an extra 5-6mph and bring his serve consistently up to 140mph. Green said: “There is a link between how much he can lift and how hard he can hit his serves or forehands or move about court.”

Yet Murray's fitness regime is by no means a pure weights programme. He does a considerable amount of track work, particularly a brutal set of 100-metre sprints, 20 times, one every minute. He also does a lot of lateral strength work on one leg, then the other, hopping sideways over a set of small hurdles, like croquet hoops.

According to Green, Murray is particularly impressive over 400metres. “I have not seen many people on a track as quick as Andy,” he said. And he is also confident that, when his work is done, Murray will be the match of his peers.

“In the past 15 years, there are benchmarks of what top tennis players can do and I keep myself to those benchmarks - what they can lift, etc. Nadal, Federer and Djokovic probably keep their secrets to themselves, but Andy is smack on and maybe even ahead of schedule.”

The relationship between tennis players and the gym is, as Green suggests, a fairly new one. Ivan Lendl was the first real convert and Pat Cash followed. Now, no player would survive if not prepared to put in the work.

Green should know. His other clients have been Daniela Hantuchova, Tatiana Golovin and Martin Lee, the former Great Britain player. “Jez Green is great,” Lee said yesterday. “He always pushes you and, when working with me, he always did the work with me, too. I'd be on the exercise bike and he'd be on another bike next to me. He's been on the tour a while, he knows it and he knows what players need.”

According to Green, what the players require is the athleticism and movement of a cat. “Top tennis players do not sprint like track athletes,” he wrote in a guide to player fitness. “Instead, they prowl as if tracking prey.” The language will translate effectively to the Centre Court today. Nadal happens to be the ultimate tennis athlete; the new, stronger Murray will have one hell of a time hunting him down.