Heat is turned up on Murray for opening match in Melbourne

Andy Murray walks to a practice court ahead of the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne Australia

The Japanese world No 112 is among the kindest first-round draws Murray could have had but he will be taking nothing for granted.

Firstly there is the unknown factor of how he will hold up in his first best-of-five sets match following back surgery in September.

And the clash could well be played in temperatures above 40C, with an extreme heatwave predicted to hit Melbourne during the coming week.

With crowd favourites Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in his half of the draw, Murray is unlikely to be given night matches until the later stages of the tournament.

He should, though, play on either Rod Laver or Hisense Arena, where the roof will be used if the extreme heat policy is in operation.

Murray spent his winter training in Miami in order to get himself ready for the Australian heat, and he said: “It helps. But the difference between 32 degrees and 40, it’s a huge difference. It feels very different on the court. The court just gets so hot. The air is extremely, extremely hot as well.

“In Miami, there tends to be a breeze. Here when it’s 40 degrees, it can be calm. The air feels warm in your face. Your legs and your feet burn. The stuff that I do there helps, but you can’t prepare for that heat. It’s very tough.”

Murray has played only two competitive matches since going under the knife in September, and one of those was a meaningless thrashing of a local wild card in Doha.

In the other he lost to German Florian Mayer from a set and 3-0 up, while in his last exhibition match on Friday he was beaten by Lleyton Hewitt.

Murray’s obsession with being properly prepared means he will have left no stone unturned physically in terms of getting in the best shape possible, but there is no substitute for playing matches.

He said: “Obviously there’s pressure and nerves and stress and stuff, dealing with playing in front of big crowds again when you’ve been away from that for a few months. That doesn’t just straight away feel normal again.

“All players will say we push ourselves hard in training and in practice, but playing matches, you always will tend to push yourself that little bit harder.”