The clay is baked and so are the sheepish huddle of journalists clutching tennis rackets in the furnace of the Algarve afternoon.
'To be perfectly honest, I've never really played tennis before. I'm going to be an absolute shambles here,' seems to be the brutally frank consensus among the group as we await our coach.
Succour and strength are being sought from the pool of collective mediocrity.
Judy Murray is once again preparing to cheer on her boys, Andy and Jamie, at Wimbledon
It will be an unusual Wimbledon for Andy Murray this year as he competes in the doubles
Jamie Murray will, as always, be among the favourites for doubles success at Wimbledon
Judy will once again be in the stands at Wimbledon next month cheering on her sons
After all, nobody is expecting any mercy from our tutor. Judy Murray is the remarkable woman who set not just one of her sons, but both of them, on their way to the very pinnacle of the sport.
It's nine Grand Slam titles for Jamie and Andy so far - achievements that have assured both men an ever-lasting place in the nation's affections and an indelible mark in British tennis history.
Next month's Wimbledon will be a strange one for the Murray family. Instead of Andy playing in the singles draw and Jamie the doubles, both will be in the doubles.
Andy is set to pair up with France's Pierre-Hugues Herbert just six months after the hip operation that looks to have saved his career. Jamie, meanwhile, will have sights firmly fixed on a third SW19 crown.
As always, Judy will be up in the stands cheering them both on.
Yet even the Murrays had to start somewhere and over the course of the next hour it becomes abundantly clear how their mother, a former junior player, first managed to stir up a burning passion for tennis as impressionable kids.
And given their glorious achievements since, Judy is understandably keen to capture the imagination of the next generation through her own well-honed coaching philosophy.
Sportsmail's Adam Shergold (blue shirt) received a coaching session from Judy Murray
Judy hosts tennis camps for kids and adults at The Campus in Quinta do Lago, Portugal
Some of these methods are used on our group on the clay courts at The Campus, a state-of-the-art sports complex on the Quinta do Lago resort in Portugal.
Our nerves are immediately soothed as Judy and fellow coach Kris Soutar get the group started with some gentle pitter-patter not dissimilar to that bat and ball game usually played with sand between your toes and waves lapping at your ankles on holiday.
From there, we zip through various exercises designed to get our eye in and some kind of coordination going. Mini forehands, backhands and smashes, all the while aiming for a rally of 10.
Next we pair up and out come some plastic hoops with the aim to direct our various slashes, swipes and shots into them. The bounce encourages quick-thinking, movement and shot selection.
Gradually, Judy and Kris introduce more and more mobility but of equal importance for us beginners is sound judgement of distance.
Lining up on the tramlines of the court, we're invited to roll the ball into a hoop that moves another couple of feet away from us with every successful attempt.
Shergold gets to grips with the tennis fundamentals at the start of the coaching session
Judy Murray explains one of the exercises with fellow coach Kris Soutar in Portugal
It's almost crown green bowls but, as Judy rightly points out, the fixed parameters of the tennis court mean placement is everything. We're soon back with racket in hand, lofting the ball into the hoop.
Working in pairs again, we repeat the
