Murray recruits clay expert Corretja

The 34-year-old Spaniard, who reached the French Open final in 1998 and 2001, will work with Murray for the next nine weeks and help him tackle his least favoured surface.

In what may well prove to be a shrewd appointment, Corretja will work alongside existing Team Murray members Miles Maclagan and fitness trainer Matt Little.

The Spaniard, who since retiring in 2004 has been doing a lot of TV commentary work, is a highly-respected figure in the game.

He enjoyed most of his success on clay although his high-level experience also extends to success on hardcourts and in the Davis Cup.

Corretja said: 'I have watched Andy play several times over the last couple of years, in particular his close match against Rafael Nadal in Madrid last October, and saw that he has tremendous potential to play well on all surfaces.

'I am flattered to have been asked to be part of his team during the claycourt season.'

Murray missed most of the nine-week claycourt spell, which also includes Masters Series events in Monte Carlo, Rome and Hamburg, last season because of a wrist injury.

Following his disappointing exit at the Sony Ericsson Open last weekend Murray's ranking will slip into the 20s on Monday, but he has an excellent chance of reviving it over the summer as there are precious few ranking points to defend.

Their first tournament together will be in Valencia starting on Monday week.

Murray said: 'It's great for me to be able to work with a claycourt specialist like Alex. He had a fantastic career and I'm looking forward to learning from his experiences.'

Roger Federer will be looking forward to the claycourt season with lower expectations than usual after his sagging form continued with a 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 defeat by Andy Roddick here.

The American joins Murray, Novak Djokovic and Mardy Fish in having beaten him in 2008.

Federer has failed to reach a final this season, his worst spell since becoming world No 1 more than four years ago.

Against an opponent at the peak of his game, the Swiss looked reasonably sharp until, with the pressure on, he played a dreadful service game at 3-4 in the decider and was broken to love.

Roddick was playing Nikolay Davydenko in last night's semi-final with the winner meeting Nadal, who overcame Czech Tomas Berdych 7-6, 6-2.