Madrid - King of clay Rafael Nadal also serves as a major grass-court inspiration for Britain's new world number three Andy Murray, who can't get over the Spaniard's Wimbledon win last summer. "Very few people would have thought he could have won Wimbledon and have been in the final three years in a row," fourth seed Murray said Monday as he scratched for a rare practise court at the ATP-WTA event being played at a new and untested venue.
"I'm obviously impressed with what he has done on clay," he said of the four-time Roland Garros champion and tournament top seed. "But what he's done on grass is also a great motivation for me."
Murray's Wimbledon success has been limited to a quarter-final last summer. But the Scot says that while he has the Madrid event and the French Open to deal with, his current thoughts remain on the clay.
"I can obviously get better on clay and learn how to play better. I want to get to the second week and go deep in the French Open."
Murray is on a mission after overhauling Novak Djokovic as the week's ATP rankings came out following the Scot's early loss in Rome after achieving a surprise semi-final last month in Monte Carlo.
"Clay is obviously better for me last year, but after losing my first match in Rome, I just want to try and win my first match and take each match as they come," he said of the Madrid week.
"I have got a tricky draw here, the conditions are different (altitude) so there is no use in thinking about finals and semi-finals,
"I don't play that well on this surface to think past my first match and I play the winner of two very solid clay courters, so, I'm not going to think past them," he said of the battle between either Italian Simone Bolelli or Argentine Juan Chela.
In first-round play at the combined men's and women's event in the south of the Spanish capital, 12th-seeded David Ferrer earned a victory over Argentine Guillermo Canas 6-2, 6-2.
American Mardy Fish, an Estoril quarter-finalist last week, earned his fourth win from seven spring clay matches, defeating Serb Janko Tipsarevic 7-6 (7-3), 6-4.
Florent Serra of France defeated veteran German Rainer Schuettler 6-2, 6-4 while Croatian Ivan Ljubicic advanced over Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-3, 6-2.
