Lockdown = foot down
Norrie’s fitness kick during crisis CameronsparksNorrie tellsstunninghow fitnessUSOpenkickformduring pandemic has sparked superb run of form at Flushing Meadows
CAMERON NORRIE might have been born in South Africa and raised in New Zealand but he’s one of our own and his dad wouldn’t have it any other way.
How could he? David Norrie, a world-travelling microbiologist hails from King’s Park in Glasgow and is Rangers-daft.
His son is too but Cam doesn’t get to see his team hit the net much. Not when he’s trying his best to get a ball over the net every day in life.
And this week he’s made a great job of doing just that in New York.
The 25-year-old has already sent two Argentinians – ninth seed Diego Schwarzmann and Federico Coria – out of the US Open to reach the third round of a Grand Slam for the firstst time in his career.
And even if he loses to Spaniard Alejandro ejandro Davidovich Fokina tonight, Norriee will still have banked nked £123,000 for his efforts. That’s the biggest pay cheque of his career. However, this son of a Scot, who has a Welsh mother and is now the third-highest ranked Brit in tennis, is takingg it all his stride and believes he cacan go even further against an a opponent who is ranked 20 places below him at 97th in the world.
With Flushing Meadows empty due to the pandemic, Norrie doesn’t have family support this week but six weeks spent in lockdown with his parents in Auckland, New Zealand – one of the safest places on the planet when the
Covid crisis was at its peak – has proved pivotal to the success he is now enjoying.
He said: “I took six weeks off but it helped me to relax and I just worked a lot on my fitness.
“I ran a lot, posting 10k runs on Strava and competing with some of my friends.
“It was real hilly in New Zealand so it was not easy to find a quick track, so I think I got 36.45 as my best time for the 10k and 17.20 5k, so I can’t decide if I’m better at the five or the 10.
“But I’m a good runner. I’ve got good genes – my mum’s a good runner too.
“I was always decent at cross country at school, so I’d back myself as a runner as well.
“I was just enjoying doing different things and started to practice near the end when there were no cases in New Zealand.
“I felt really good being there, catching up with my parents and making the most of the tough situation.”