Murray and the Magician conjure up a touch of class

The British No 1 will take on Fabrice Santoro, who hopes — on probably his valedictory appearance here — that the crowd will be treated to a display of tennis how it used to be.

Under close scrutiny: Andy Murray even drew a crowd for his practice session at Wimbledon on Monday

Both men have hands that are among the most delicate in the game and the outcome ought to be a delightful range of shot-making that will excite the purists.

‘We can show the crowd that there is more to tennis than just hitting the ball hard,’ said Santoro, dubbed ‘The Magician’ by Pete Sampras after beating the former world No 1 three times in their seven meetings. ‘The crowd likes to see every shot in the game, like the drop shot and the slice.’

Santoro is highly unusual in that he hits double handed off both sides and moves with an ease that is only just starting to be hindered by his 35 years.

The Tahiti-born Frenchman has been desperate to play on Centre Court and the referee’s office have granted him his wish as he steps out for a record-making 64th appearance in a Major.

‘I made a special request to them because this might be my last year on the tour. I was very pleased when I saw I was playing Andy,’ he said.

‘I’ve been around for 19 years and I’ve played singles on every great court in the world apart from Centre Court, so I’m very happy. I know there will be big support for him, but I know that it will be fair.’

There really should not be much danger for Murray in this, except for the fact that he has plenty to lose and Santoro — who has never progressed beyond the last 16 of a Grand Slam event — nothing.

As a one-time London resident, the player now ranked 52 in the world was used to seeing the focus on Tim Henman and knows it will be similar for Murray, whose game he admires.

‘I enjoy watching Andy because he really understands the game, he knows what to do on the court and because he’s smart. He looks slow but he’s actually very fast. He has good hands and I like this kind of player. He is going to improve in the next three to five years and one day he is going to do something big.’

It might be a pleasing spectacle, but Murray’s goal must be to get this one out of the way fast and conserve his energy. He will certainly not want a repeat of his French Open first round four weeks ago, when he was taken to five sets by another Frenchman, Jonathan Eysseric, who is half Santoro’s age.