"He is a great practice partner and a great guy as well, he is my favorite player to watch" - Cameron Norrie on Daniil Medvedev
Cameron Norrie reached his maiden Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon - his home Grand Slam tournament - and hopes that his rise to the top will help him bag more training sessions with the best players in the world. Norrie recently found a practice partner in World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in Nice.
The British No. 1 hailed Medvedev as a person and player, calling the Russian his favorite player to watch.
"He is a great practice partner and a great guy as well, Cameron Norrie said during an interview wih The Mail, adding, "He is my favourite player to watch. My coach is always trying to message the best players in the world to practise with, so hopefully we can get a little bit more leeway with the top guys now."
Medvedev, the defending US Open champion, will enter the American hardcourt swing with added motivation after missing Wimbledon. He begins his preparations for the US Open at Los Cabos before moving to hardcourt Masters events in Toronto and Cincinnati.
Great practice yesterday. Getting ready for Mexico! 🔥 https://t.co/1CFeyuYrE1
While the British No. 1 has had some quality training time with Medvedev and probably picked his brain on a number of things, he said that he didn't bring up Wimbledon as one of the talking points during the session.
The ATP No. 1 was banned from playing the grasscourt Grand Slam as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine earlier this year. The Russian star even made a cheeky post on social media on the day of the Wimbledon final, as he chose to watch the F1 Austrian GP and not the final at SW19.
However, Medvedev did watch Cameron Norrie's semifinal with eventual champion Novak Djokovic, as Norrie revealed during the interview. But that was all that Medvedev and Norrie discussed when it came to Wimbledon.
"He didn’t ask about Wimbledon and I didn’t ask him anything about that.I didn’t want to bring it up. He said he watched my match with Djokovic, that’s all," Norrie said.
Norrie had a great Wimbledon campaign. In the semifinals against Djokovic, Norrie put the six-time champion under pressure by winning the opening set. Despite eventually losing in four sets, the British player earned something very valuable from the match - the confidence of competing with the best at Grand Slams.
"I played in the biggest matches of my career so far. To play the level I did, to start like that, against the best player in the world at the moment on grass, the biggest thing is knowing I can do it at the Slams now," Cameron Norrie added.
Welcome to the semi-finals, @cam_norrie! 🇬🇧
The Brit is into the final four of a Grand Slam for the first time, beating David Goffin 3-6, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5
#Wimbledon https://t.co/fPM33dGOB9
"A shame not to be rewarded on the rankings side" - Cameron Norrie on his Wimbledon campiagn
Despite his Wimbledon heroics, which resulted in his best performance at a Major, Cameron Norrie was unfortunate not to get the benefit of the same in the ATP rankings. The 2022 Wimbledon Championships did not carry any ranking points because of the ATP's response to the ban on Russian and Belarusian players.
If the tournament carried points, Norrie would have been in the top-10 after reaching the semifinals.He lamented the fact that his ranking did not improve, but is glad to still be ranked high, guaranteeing his entry to the Grand Slam main draws.
‘It’s a bit frustrating with that but there is nothing you can do. For me, it doesn’t change too much, I am still in the main draw of all these tournaments, and still seeded relatively high. But it is a bit of a shame not to be rewarded on the rankings side," Norrie stated.
Meanwhile, he has been enjoying fame and recognition since his Wimbledon success, and spoke about how he gets free coffee these days. Having said that, Norrie is focused on future tournaments.
"It's cool that people were watching and supporting as well, and that I was getting some recognition. After this Wimbledon, a lot more people know who I am. It’s great for me, but it doesn’t change too much, I want to keep pushing, keep improving," the 26-year-old expressed.
Views of the Hill for a special @cam_norrie win 💜 💚
#Wimbledon https://t.co/LIv63mVy7D
Cameron Norrie is set to play the ATP event in Los Cabos, Mexico, before traveling to Canada for the National Bank Open in Toronto and the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati ahead of the US Open