JOAO SOUSA, who faces Andy Murray in the Roland Garros second round today, is a man with powerful friends.

None more so than Portuguese super agent Jorge Mendes, whose Gestifute agency has been involved in some of the biggest football transfers of all time, and who may at this very moment be brokering big money switches for David De Gea and Angel Di Maria if not Cristiano Ronaldo himself.

Sousa, who like Murray himself left his home of Guimaraes at the age of 15 to seek fame and fortune in Barcelona, is part of that stable too. It is an access point for a life which brings him into regular contact with Real Madrid stars such as his countrymen Ronaldo, Pepe and Fabio Coentrao and the World No 44 will derive inspiration from them as he attempts to turn his meeting with Murray into the tennis equivalent of El Clasico. While Murray used to sneak out of practice at Sanchez-Casal periodically for the odd impromptu visit to Camp Nou - indeed he was back there for a match earlier this season - the Portuguese connection meant that Sousa always gravitated to Bernabeu instead.

"I haven't met [Jose] Mourinho, but I know guys like Cristiano Ronaldo, Pepe, James Rodrigues and Coentrao very well," said Sousa. "We have the same agency so we have a lot in common. Knowing these guys is very good. They are the best in the world at what they do, which in this case is football. It's great to deal with them and to live some experiences with them.

"Of course Ronaldo is an inspiration," he added. "He's a hard worker. He always wants to be better. He has been making unbelievable work in every place he goes and in his life. He's a great inspiration not only for me but for all the people who want to be better at something. I'm a Madrid fan. All my friends are from Barcelona, so I like to be the opposite and pinch them a little bit."

Sousa, an impressive individual who speaks six languages - Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, English, French and Italian - learned self-sufficiency in Spain and understands the kinship this gives him with the Scot. "I was 15 when I moved to Barcelona because I thought there were no opportunities in Portgual, unfortunately," he said. "Maybe today it's different. But at that time I thought I couldn't be a professional tennis player. My career has given a lot of happiness to my parents and to me obviously so there has been good to make up for the bad of those days."

The pair have met five times previously, each time on a hard court, each settled in Murray's favour without the loss of a single set. It remains to be seen whether today will be any different, with Sousa regarding clay as his best surface and coming off a week where he reached the final in Geneva.

"I know him very well and he knows me very well," said Sousa. "We are not friends, but I speak with him normally and he's a great guy. But on court, there are no friends.

"I hope to do better this time," he added. "It will be the first time we've played on clay and I feel very good on the clay court. I made a good result last week [when he got to final in Geneva]. I have been playing very well. I'm confident."

As far as the Portuguese is concerned, that is the good news. The bad news, on the other hand, is that Murray is currently playing his best ever tennis on the dirt too, and yesterday he could even count on some back up from his older brother. Playing with Thomaz Bellucci, the man who beat him in that Geneva final last week, Sousa was taken to three sets by Jamie Murray and his Australian partner John Peers out on the heat of Court No 9, looking none too happy as he suffered a demoralising 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-2 defeat. Andy, on the other hand, has had two clear days of rest.

The elder Scottish sibling joked that even he had been unable to deliberately engineer a third set in order to prolong matters to their maximum, but backed his brother to finish the job.

"Those guys are pretty fit, so I don't think he [Sousa] will be stressing about that," said Jamie, who has been in excellent form during the clay court season himself. "Sometimes it isn't good to have too many days off, because you can lose your rhythm. If both guys play their best level then Andy's level is higher, but I guess he [Sousa] is a dangerous guy. He plays well on clay, even though his best results have been on the hard court. And he has a dangerous forehand. But I would definitely fancy Andy to win that match."

Most analysts believe that the key to Murray's success in this tournament lies in his willingness to take the initiative and be aggressive. It is a point returned to yesterday by US Davis Cup captain Jim Courier, the 44-year-old who twice won the singles title here. He used the example of the semi-finals and finals in Madrid, when he defeated first Kei Nishikori and Rafael Nadal, to show what can be achieved when the Scot runs less and attacks more.

"We know his defence is as good as anybody's, it is amazing, but I'd like to see him trust his offence as much as he does his defence," said Courier in a TV interview. "When he did that in the semis and the final in Madrid, the results were clear - he played some of the best tennis he's ever played. Against the top players you cannot win by defence alone. They don't beat themselves. You have to attack them. That's what Andy did in Madrid, and I hope he will do that at this tournament and for the rest of his career."