Andy Murray hoping to beat Novak Djokovic in Sunday's French Open final

By Raz Mirza

Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic say they are both prepared for a hard-fought French Open final.

Andy Murray will hope his name will adorn the Coupe des Mousquetaires on Sunday rather than Novak Djokovic as the pair get ready to go head-to-head in the French Open final on Sunday.

Top seed and world No 1 Djokovic must handle the weight of history as he looks to finally secure his maiden Roland Garros title and complete the career Grand Slam as well as seal the 'Novak Slam' - the closest he has come is three final defeats in Paris.

Now the Scot stands in his way once again as they meet for a 34th time overall and seventh in a Grand Slam final. The Serb leads the head-to-head 23-10 and has a 7-2 win-loss record against Murray at Grand Slams, and a 4-2 win-loss record in finals.

Murray v Djokovic preview

Andy Murray takes on Novak Djokovic in the French Open final

But Britain's world No 2, Murray, has developed into a true clay-court player and he has the chance to become the first British men's singles champion at Roland Garros since Fred Perry in 1935.

"It's obviously a very big match for both of us," said Murray. "Novak is trying to win the career slam, it's obviously a huge match for him, and me trying to win my first French Open.

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Previous meetings between Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic

"Neither of us know how many more chances we'll have to win here. It took Roger (Federer) a long time to win this one. It's a very tough event to win.

There is a lot riding on the match for both of us. I hope we can both play a good match.

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"We have had some really big battles in the slams before on all the other surfaces. I'm sure it will be the same again on Sunday."

Image: Murray conquered Djokovic in Rome

History does not favour Murray given he has won only 10 of 33 previous meetings with Djokovic and just two in the last 14.

Murray did win both his slam titles by defeating the Serb, at the US Open in 2012 and then Wimbledon a year later, but Djokovic has won all four of their finals in Australia, most recently in 2014 and 2015.

What is clear is both men hit top form in the semi-finals, Murray ousting defending champion Wawrinka with the best clay-court performance of his career while Djokovic dispatched 22-year-old Dominic Thiem for the loss of seven games.

Image: Djokovic had beaten the Scot a week earlier in Madrid

Murray feels his improvement can be put down to finally adjusting to the conditions.

"The conditions aren't that easy," he said. "It's been cold, wet, slow - much, much slower than what we played in the last few weeks. I made some changes to my racket tension, which I don't often do.

"Obviously getting through difficult matches, you can find your rhythm. I spent a lot of time on court at the beginning of the event. I'm starting to feel better every day."

Murray's record against Djokovic may not inspire much confidence but he only has to look back three weeks to find his last win over his fellow 29-year-old.

Image: Murray famously beat the Serb to win Wimbledon three years ago

That came in the final of the Rome Masters, when Djokovic was the one ranting and raving as Murray brilliantly executed a 6-3 6-3 victory.

It was his first victory over Djokovic on clay in five attempts and came just a week after he had lost in another Masters final in Madrid.

Murray at Roland Garros

Sky Sports look back at how Andy Murray has fared at the French Open

The pair also played for the first time here last year, when Djokovic held off Murray fightback across two days to win the semi-final in five sets.

Murray said: "It was raining for quite a lot of the match (in Rome), so it was heavy and not as easy to penetrate the court. You had to be very patient in the conditions.

"I got off to a good start. Novak got off to a good start in Madrid. That helped both of us in the respective matches."

Follow our live blog of the men's final between world No 1 Novak Djokovic and Britain's Andy Murray this Sunday from midday on skysports.com/tennis, our app for mobile devices and iPad and our Twitter account @skysportstennis.

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