WHAT kind of match unfolds on Centre Court today all depends on which Fabio Fognini turns up. I can’t remember any of the Italian’s outbursts when he and Andy Murray used to play against each other as teenagers - I can probably recall some of Andy’s more clearly - but he is certainly a combustible character. He has a child now, and his perspective on things may have changed. But he is what he is on the court. I saw one match recently where he was shouting at his coaches and telling them to get lost.

The reason he has never got beyond the quarter finals at any slam is mentality - his focus quite simply is not there like the top guys. He is generally not able to play three or four hours at a time, maintain discipline, and execute point after point against the very best players. But he is an extremely good player who likes the big occasion. I remember a third round win against Rafa Nadal in the 2015 US Open where he came back from two sets down. It was a night match and he played like a joke. So he is capable of doing something but these are one-off matches, and so far he hasn’t been able to focus and re-set afterwards.

He has won three of six against Andy as seniors but if he sometimes seems to get under his skin I don’t think it has anything to do with the history between them. It is just the way the Fabio is, his demeanour, he is so self assured. He has got that strut, and also the way he plays can cause stress. He is nowhere near as unpredictable as Alex Bublik and Dustin Brown but he is another player who can come out with some brilliant stuff you are not expecting. He has an amazing forehand, with excellent timing. He can go either way with it and has great racket head speed.

Or he can throw a drop shot or a drop volley in because he has got amazing touch and feel. His hand skills are among the best on tour. And he is smart too, because he senses his opponent is in trouble and sneaks in to finish points off. By the same token he can simply switch off for games at a time. It looks like he is disinterested but he is not - it is just his way of coping. Suddenly he will maybe flash a few winners and then he is on again. Those are the kind of things you have to be guarded against.

He is one of the few players to have beaten Andy Murray in a singles Davis Cup rubber but it was a long time ago now, and the clay court in Naples in April 2014 was very soft, and there had been loads of rain. And while Fabio played a good match Andy was sick a a dog the whole weekend with a flu type thing.

I was in Rio for the match they had at the Olympics there, where Andy was a break down in the third, weathered the storm and come back. There was also a 6-2, 6-4 win in Rome recently, but Fognini is a brilliant player on clay who knows how to move and slide on that surface. Andy was coming back from his elbow injury then. But he is in a different place now.

The key for him is just to realise what kind of surface you are playing on: grass. Fabio is dangerous when he has a lot of time on the ball but on grass he doesn’t have as much time of that. It is Andy’s best surface for a reason. And he might get a bit peeved at the crowd being on the other side, that is for sure. There will be some tough moments because Fabio will want to bring something to the match and has high quality but I think Andy will get through it. There will be extended rallies here, so a lot more lateral movement will be needed from the hip but I think we saw against Dustin Brown that he is feeling okay. He knows he can out-focus this guy so he needs to play each point, be aggressive and if he does that I think he will be fine.

It is always nice to have more Brits around in the singles. But while it is nice having British players winning first week, it would be nicer still to have them in the second. A healthy tennis nation has layers and that is still the bit we need to strive for.