THE eyes of the world will be trained elsewhere.
But those of the World No 3 will be focused solely on the prize.
While tennis connoisseurs savour a Roland Garros quarter final between nine-time French Open champion Rafa Nadal and the relentless World No 1 Novak Djokovic on Philippe Chatrier, Andy Murray will be a short distance away on Suzanne Lenglen, well aware that his own personal Waterloo deserves his undivided attention.
David Ferrer, alternately known as Little Beast, The Wall or Le Grinder, has been thoroughly beastly to the Scot on their previous meetings on clay. He has won all four, most notably a 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-2 victory at Roland Garros at this stage back in 2012. The acid test of the Scot's much-hyped improvements on this surface will be if he is still standing in this competition at close of play today.
The man from Valencia is 33 now, and has no shortage of miles in the tank, but there are no signs yet that he is running on empty. There is a famous story about how his former coach, Javier Piles, locked the teenage Ferrer in a shed as he was so disgusted by his application to his training but such unorthodox methods have had the desired result. He may lack in height and power, but the Spaniard will run the legs off you if you let him.
No wonder then that Murray is determined it should be Ferrer who is doing most of the fetching. A short-lived heatwave is expected to hit Paris, although not until Thursday, but the Scot is determined to be pro-active rather than reactive.
"In conditions like these David can make you run a lot if you allow him to," said Murray. "But because he's not as hard a hitter as somebody like [Jeremy] Chardy you have the opportunity to dictate the points as well. So I will need to do that for sure. Something I feel like I've done a better job of on the clay this year is not playing so defensively. When I have had to defend, I've moved a lot better so when I've had the chance I have stepped into the court and dictated the points."
Having said that, 20 months on from back surgery and on a course of preventative pilates, the Scot feels he can go the distance if required. "Obviously you never know until you're in that situation but I'm pretty comfortable," said Murray, who has dropped just two sets to reach his 17th Grand Slam quarter final. "Last year I wasn't really able to train as I would have liked because of the problems I had with my back, whereas this year I was able to train better. And I've played way more matches so I should be pretty confident that I'll be able to last just now."
On those matches, while it was Ivan Lendl who guided Andy Murray to his two Grand Slam wins to date, the 2012 US Open and Wimbledon in 2013, Amelie Mauresmo is starting to get the better of some other vital statistics. Since taking charge at Queen's Club last year, Murray's record stands at 68 wins and 15 losses, a ratio which compares favourably with 56-16 in his first year under the Czech. While the future of that relationship is uncertain at best, as the Frenchwoman prepares for the birth of her first child in August, the Scot feels the stat further undermines the credibility of the whispering campaign against her which reached a crescendo around the time of the 6-0, 6-1 defeat to Roger Federer at the ATP World Tour finals in London.
"I think I've won more tournaments also," said the Scot. "People are only going to say the work I've done with Amelie will be a success only if I win grand slams. But my results have been good. I'm starting to get more wins against higher-ranked players which is something I wasn't doing last year. Hopefully it keeps going that way. But it does show that the stuff that was getting said about her at the end of last year was completely unfair and unacceptable."
Typically for the low key World No 7, despite being a finalist here in 2013, he is yet to grace either of the show courts. Ferrer was defeated 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 by Rafael Nadal that day, shortly after the Mallorcan had emerged strongest from one of his periodic showdowns with Novak Djokovic. It is a scenario which could recur again here, and the Valencian certainly feels fresh after beating US Open champion Marin Cilic in three sets. For all Murray's model all-court consistency, this is Ferrer's first Grand Slam quarter final since this time last year.
Whatever it is that determines the outcome today, it won't be things like how much growth the Scot has on his chin and sideburns. Bjorn Borg used to refuse to shave for the duration of his Wimbledon tournaments, and Murray did something similar back at Wimbledon 2011, but he emerged clean-shaven against Chardy on Monday and said that such superstitions were a load of bunkum.
"If you think it's going to freak you out if you shave or cut your hair then it's better you just leave it," said Murray. "But realistically it does not make any difference on the court. I was bored, it was raining and I was stuck in the room. It was quite a long day so I just decided to have a shave."
Murray will need to be razor sharp if he is to reverse the form book and secure his place in the French Open last four.
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