JIM COURIER would have loved the chance to fix Roger Federer in his sights and, although 11 years separate them, enough spirit rages inside the American to believe that he would take a few games from the maestro. The closest that Courier, 35, can come is to interview Federer and the present crop on court after centre-stage matches at the Australian Open, where the former world No 1 has developed a distinctive fireside-chat style.

His gentle coaxing on Rod Laver Arena is very different from the unyielding commitment that Courier brought to a career which ended in 1999 with four grand-slam singles titles in his total of 23 (he was also runner-up at Wimbledon and the US Open), the No 1 ranking and two Davis Cup medals, one of which came in 1992 against Switzerland in a United States team embracing John McEnroe, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi.

Last weekend, Courier was thinking ahead to the Davis Cup at the same time as winning the latest stop on the Delta Tour of Champions at Stade Jean-Bouin, a five-minute stroll across Paris from Roland Garros, which puts him in the running for a place in the Masters, the finale to the Delta Tour, at the Albert Hall in London in November.

The US play Belgium in Brussels this week at the world group play-off level, where Great Britain are pitted against Switzerland in Geneva. Which presumes a match on Friday between Federer and Andy Murray, a ripsnorter of an occasion.

Like everyone else, Courier has been mesmerised by the world No 1’s ascent and wonders how anyone, let alone a teenager who has not played a Davis Cup singles match, can beat him. It has happened only three times in 2005 and twice Federer had a match point.

It puts Murray’s prospects into perspective. “You can’t say Federer’s the greatest until you are allowed a hindsight view,” Courier said. “But he’s the most complete player I’ve ever seen. I would reiterate what Andre (Agassi) said after the US Open last week, that Roger doesn’t have a single weakness that’s exploitable.

“Fabrice Santoro gave him some awkward moments in the second round, but he (Federer) plays in a totally different way to anyone else. Tim Henman gave him trouble in the past by playing a relentless pressure game, but the minute you allow Roger to control the rally, you’re done, be it on his forehand or backhand. His sliced backhand is supposed to be a weakness, but the opponent is never sure whether to slice and move in himself or stay back and rally because those rallies tend to end up with Roger saying, ‘OK, where do you want me to put this winner?’ ”

So does Courier give Murray — or Greg Rusedski, for that matter — any hope of upsetting the Swiss cheese-cart? “What is imperative is that Andy plays this match,” he said. “I know that Jeremy (Bates, the Britain captain) might be thinking of saving him for later in the tie, but he has to be tested against the best and this is trial by fire of the best kind. While Murray is the prohibitive underdog, the experience he is going to gain in the long run is the important factor.

“I feel the passion he brings to the court. Fear would be the first reaction of most people to a match like this, but I don’t sense that in Murray. He has to be spot-on perfect and hope Federer has an off-day, sure, and there are physical issues with him (Murray), but they can wait until he stops playing this year. There are times when the game gets ahead of your head and your body.

“They manifest themselves in a couple of ways — losing because you aren’t aware of what’s going on and not knowing how to spend your energy. He’ll learn. It wasn’t until I hooked up with Pat Etcheberry (the renowned physical trainer) after a couple of years on the tour and got a fully complementary fitness regime for my cardio, muscles, agility and endurance that I stopped losing matches through fatigue.

“At certain times, Murray looks like a young horse who doesn’t know his legs, but once he finds them, everything will change.”