Murray's French rival has plenty in his locker

Andy Murray might just open his locker a little gingerly before he takes on Michael Llodra in the second round of the US Open tomorrow. Llodra has a reputation for eccentric practical jokes, built largely on an incident during a tournament in Miami in 2005 when he took off all his clothes and hid inside fellow pro Ivan Ljubicic's locker so that he could surprise him.

As well as his rather idiosyncratic sense of humour, nakedness has also proved to be something of a theme with Llodra, who has been known to strip down to his undies in celebration after his biggest wins.

Most of those have come in doubles, though Llodra stopped short of baring all when he and Arnaud Clement knocked the Murray brothers out of the Olympic tennis event. Murray needed no reminding that his next opponent is equally dangerous in singles, however.

With an unpredictable left-handed serve and a policy of aggressive improvisation at all times, Llodra makes a habit of unsettling opponents and breaking up any cadence or continuity in rallies.

"I think I have some good strokes, you know, to disturb him. We'll see what's happening," said Llodra, who declined to be more specific about his plan to knock the British No.1 out of the tournament. "That's my secret, you know," he said, with a twinkle in his eye.

That is not to say that Llodra does not respect the tournament's No.6 seed, however, for he watched him come from what appeared to be an unwinnable position to beat another Frenchman, Richard Gasquet, at Wimbledon this year. It was the sort of victory, over talented opposition, of which the locker room takes notice. "I saw his match against Richard in Wimbledon and after the match I said, if he can play this kind of match, he was down two sets to love and win afterI was impressed."

Murray knows what to expect too and will take confidence from the way he breezed past Sergio Roitman in straight sets on Monday to get his US Open campaign off the perfect start. "Llodra is really talented. He played really well at the start of the year and hasn't had too much success lately, but he's tricky, plays serve volley and is a lefty," said Murray. "I played him once before in Metz and won quite comfortably, but I think he's playing a bit better than he was when I beat him."

Murray's first round defeat in singles at the Olympics looks more and more like a blip in an otherwise thrilling surge forward, one which saw him win his first Masters Series title in Cincinnati. His confidence goes a lot deeper than before, chiefly because he knows that the work he is doing with physical trainers Jez Green and Matt Little week-in, week-out means he need not be concerned about his body holding up. It has left him free to play his tennis.

"Talent gets you to a certain level and then the hard work starts to kick in; if you're not putting in the hard work, you're not going to get the opportunities to win a grand slam title," said Murray. "I think that's something I've learned since I first came on the Tour. I've really stepped up my workload off the court and started travelling with fitness trainers and I think that's the big difference in my game and the reason why I have the potential to come through and win a slam."

If Murray plays to that potential against Llodra, there should be nowhere for the Frenchman to hide this time.