Norrie in a hurry to join Murray’s ATP Cup capers
CAMERON NORRIE came sprinting out of the blocks at the start of a marathon run of events he hopes will take him all the way to the ATP Cup finals in January.
The British No3 took a 5-0 lead against Germany’s Peter Gojowczyk just 14 minutes into his first-round match at the inaugural Zhuhai Championships in China and eventually won 6-1, 6-4 in little over an hour.
It earns him a second-round clash with Gael Monfils tomorrow.
But that is just the start of a journey that will take him to Beijing, Shanghai, Antwerp, Vienna and Paris in search of ranking points to get him back up from his current position of 68th in the world.
Last week in London, Britain’s senior players got together for some hitting practice and Andy Murray used the occasion to hold an ATP Cup meeting so he and Norrie could discuss the new team event with Chengdubound Kyle Edmund, currently 32nd in the world, and Dan Evans, 48th.
But with Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski likely to take the doubles places, and Murray using his protected ranking, it is left to the other three to battle it out for the remaining two places. That selection will be based purely on world ranking on November 13.
“Andy is giving everything a lot of thought in terms of talking about the ATP Cup,” Norrie said. “We met with him and his level of detail and professionalism is unbelievable
“We talked about the ATP Cup and obviously one of us is going to miss out with Andy entering on his protected ranking.
“If I am the one who does not make it, no big deal – the Australian Open is the main priority. But it is a straightforward criterion – the top three singles players – so we will see.
“I feel I am back on track and playing well and the conditions are good for me in China.
“In tennis, a couple of moments can make a lot of difference and I don’t really have anything in terms of points to defend for the rest of the year because I got knocked out early in these competitions 12 months ago.”
Murray gets back into ATP tour action in Zhuhai around 12.30pm UK time when he faces American Tennys Sandgren, the man who beat him last month.
There were differing fortunes for the Britons in Chengdu, Edmund losing in straight sets 6-3, 6-2 to Christian Garin while Evans saw off wild-card Yan Bai 6-3, 4-6, 7-6. Edmund is understood to have split with coach Mark Hilton ahead of the tournament.