Andy Murray will begin his build-up to the French Open when he tackles Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the second round of the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters.
The new world number two spent time practising on clay before heading back to Europe and now he has three tournaments in which to hone his game for Roland Garros.
Murray has twice reached the semi-finals in Monte Carlo but feels better prepared than ever.
“I feel good,” Murray said.
“The movement has been the thing that I needed to improve on clay and I feel like I’m moving better this year. It has always taken me a little while to get used to the clay. I expect to give 110%, to work hard in practice.
“If I do that, hopefully the results will be there at the end of the week, or by the French Open I’ll be playing good enough tennis to win matches.”
Murray received a first-round bye while Roger-Vasselin, ranked 81 in the world, disposed of Tommy Haas 6-3 6-2.
The British number one prevailed in straight sets when they met at the 2012 Australian Open and Roger-Vasselin is realistic but confident.
“Of course, there’s a great gap between the two of us. But in some tournaments, sometimes surprises can happen,” he said.
“If there’s an opening, I will certainly take it and I’ll be there. What I need to do is try not to let him play his game.
“What he likes is to do his own mix, dropshots, higher balls. I need to try to be aggressive and not let him have time to adapt to the surface since it’s his first tournament on clay.
“Otherwise it’s going to become more and more difficult for me as he will get more familiar with the conditions.”