TENNIS AUSTRALIAN OPENFOR ANDRE Agassi, who in his later years won the Australian Open title three times between 2000 and 2003, it was the desert hill. For Andy Murray it is the track and the 400m repetitions .

Both represent the dark moments of the body and the soul, when legs burn and lungs scream for release. “If you put in the sacrifice it should pay off here,” said Murray yesterday. And many believe it is about to for the Scot.

Agassi had the hugely influential Gil Reyes pushing him to exhaustion up and down dune; Murray has had his team of Jez Green, Matty Little and Andy Ireland spurring him on the flat.

“The physical work is the one thing that has made a huge difference to all of my game – my serve, my balance on wide balls, and being able to hang in better in long matches,” said Murray.

“Those 400m are the toughest things I do. The weights and the core stuff are not difficult. You don’t have to suffer. When you run, you start to feel sorry for yourself and have to fight through it.”

And with this pain has come the knowledge that he can compete with the best at slam level.

“It gives you peace of mind, knowing you can last five sets. You don’t worry about getting tired.”

The draw was relatively kind to Murray, though once again he may face Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals. But Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, the reigning champion, will secretly be pleased not to have Murray in their side, such is his form and confidence.

He meets Andrei Pavel in the first round, and has good memories. He has played the Romanian only once, winning in five sets in the first round of the 2005 US Open, when Murray famously vomited on the Grandstand Court. Then, Murray was in his rookie professional year. Now, ranked and seeded fourth, he is the bookies’ favourite to win here a fortnight tomorrow. However, he acknowledged he might be a little nervous at the start.

“Being favourite is something I am obviously not particularly used to, although in the last few months I have been favourite to win the majority of my matches. So you get used to it a bit that way.”

Ireland’s Louk Sorensen lost in the second round of the qualifying section in the Australian Open yesterday. The world number 298 had beaten 128-ranked Romanian Victor Crivoi 4-6 7-6 (7/3) 6-3 in the opening round on Wednesday, but was beaten by Canadian Peter Polansky 6-4 1-6 3-6 yesterday.

• Guardian Service