Murray upbeat as he seeks to end 80 year wait at French Open

Perry was the last Briton to win the French Open, in 1935, and Bunny Austin was the last men's finalist in 1937. Murray has changed his coaches in recent years, with his most recent coach Amelie Mauresmo now supported by Jonas Bjorkman, Bjorkman is a clay court specialist, and will also be present when Mauresmo takes some time off for maternity leave.

And along with Jonas Bjorkman, added to his coaching team as cover for Mauresmo, who is due to give birth this summer, there's a new swagger and self-belief in his Paris outlook. Murray thinks that he needs to return to being more aggression on the court than he has been in the recent past.

"Of course it will be very tough to win but the last few weeks have certainly helped my confidence," said Murray, who faces Argentinian lucky loser Facundo Arguello in the first round on Monday.

"Novak is a better clay court player than me, Rafa is so much better on the surface and Ferrer has been a finalist here too and I've never beaten him on clay. It's a new experience coming in with a couple of wins. I don't know what that does for expectation or how I would deal with it if I was close to reaching a final. I've practised well, we'll just have to see. I certainly feel physically better than I have done with my back in comparison to previous years."

Murray has reached two semi-finals in his last three Roland Garros appearances but claims to have been liberated on the surface by Bjorkman's fresh approach.

"He told me he always preferred to play guys on clay that loved playing on clay. There are things in Jonas's game which I felt like I used to do and maybe got away from. For example, he used to be aggressive on the second-serve return. Before I started working with him, I was saying to him that was something I wanted to get back into doing, putting pressure on my opponents in that way. I've done that well on clay in recent weeks."

Murray's coach Amelie Mauresmo knows first-hand the frustrations of mastering the red clay at Roland Garros.

Despite the crushing weight of home expectation, she never progressed beyond the quarter-finals - a feat that Murray might do will to better considering that David Ferrer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are all in his half of the draw.

But newly-married Murray has won ten straight matches on clay this season, claiming his first title in Munich and first Masters win on the surface, beating nine-time French Open champion Nadal in the process.

All five British players involved in the first round draw are in action at Roland Garros on a manic Monday.

Murray is last on the Philippe Chatrier Court while British women's number one Heather Watson's match with France's Mathilde Johansson is last on court two. Newly-qualified British player Aljaz Bedene will play second on court five against Austria's Dominic Thiem but there'll be long waits for qualifiers Johanna Korte and Kyle Edmund to get involved. Both are last on court five and seven respectively for matches against Czech Republic's Denisa Allertova and France's Stephane Robert.