“I’ve been around him enough to know that he’s nuts,” said Murray. “He’s like a young kid with so much energy, always making noise. Winding people up, slapping you on the back. He’s up there with the most nuts guys on the tour. He’s like a younger version of Leconte — a funny guy.”
The precedents for Murray are encouraging. Not only has he beaten Llodra in their two meetings, but he destroyed Feliciano Lopez — another left-handed serve-volleyer — at the same stage of the US Open last September. Murray has effectively been programmed to deal with this style of play, because his older brother Jamie is a leftie with a big, swinging serve and a biting volley.
The fraternal influence has shaped his game from an early age. It explains why he returns so well on the backhand side (where a left-hander normally looks to deliver the ball) and why his passing shots are the strongest feature of his game.
And this is where the French come in. If Murray’s record against them is exceptional (and it is, with 37 wins and a single defeat since he lost here to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2008), it is probably because they tend to play an all-court game, looking to command the net wherever possible.
This suits Murray, who simply hangs back and mows them down as they mount their noble charge. He found it almost too easy against Roger-Vasselin, the world No 101, who barely won a point in the first set. His only real worry was a potential loss of concentration.
Roger-Vasselin came out dressed in a teal shirt, which happened to be the same colour as the ball boys’ uniforms. For the first half-hour, you might have mistaken him for one of them.
Although his father Christophe had reached the semi-final of the French Open in 1983, Edouard has never been scheduled on a major grand slam show-court before, and the nerves were getting to him.
After losing the first set 6-1, Roger-Vasselin exchanged his shirt for a white one, and began to play like a different man. Although he spends most of his time on the Challenger circuit, he does have deft hands and a strong serve.
He fought off a succession of break points in the second and third sets, limiting the damage to 6-1, 6-4, 6-4, while extending the match time to a respectable 1hr 58min.
Murray, by contrast, faced just one break point in the match. He closed the door on that with an ace, and then banged down four more aces in quick succession, just to make doubly sure. He was landing his first serve close to 70 per cent of the time, and when he does that he is a tough proposition for anyone, even the three immortals who stand on top of the tennis tree.
The other encouraging sign was Murray’s position on the court. Rather than treading on the line-judges’ toes at the back of the court, he was stepping up towards the baseline and looking to monster Roger-Vasslin with his forehand.
This is testimony to the work he has done over the past year. First with clay-court specialist Alex Corretja, and then in the last week with Ivan Lendl, he has been working on injecting more juice into the shot. On Thursday, one mighty swipe registered at 115 mph on the speed-gun.
Asked if it was more important to play aggressive tennis or to play smart, Murray replied: “I think you want to be able to play the match on your terms.”
Against Llodra, he should be able to do exactly that.