SCOT NORRIE SHOWING ROAR TALENT
DAVID NORRIE grew up listening to the Hampden roar and now he is thrilled his son is becoming a big noise in British tennis.
Cameron Norrie stepped up on the first day of the US Open to lead the British men’s effort at Flushing Meadows in the absence of Andy Murray. His reward for victory over Russian Dmitry Tursunov is a showdown this afternoon with Spanish 12th seed Pablo Carreno Busta.
Tursunov retired with the score at 7-6 (9-7) 6-1 in favour of the adopted Scot and dad David, checking the score in the wee small hours in his Auckland home, retired to his bed, safe in the knowledge a meandering route towards the top in tennis is paying off.
Cameron, 22, was born in Johannesburg, raised in Auckland, and spent two years in London as a teenager before studying at Texas Christian University.
But his decision to embrace his Scottish heritage is no surprise given the upbringing of his father, just a stone’s throw from the nation’s football home.
David, a microbiologist in New Zealand, said: “I was raised only a couple of streets away from Hampden. In fact I could hear the roar of the crowd when big matches were played.
“Cameron’s upbringing has helped his tennis career as you must be a good traveller. We didn’t watch the first round. It was 3am over here and it wasn’t live on television so we had to settle on the Livescore updates on the US Open app.”
Fellow Brit Kyle Edmund, also born in Johannesburg, is also in second-round action against American Steve Johnson.