Murray’s key role in rapid rise of hot-shot Norrie

Champion’s support has helped young Scot up the rankings, his father tells Simon Briggs

Andy Murray may have flown home from New York, but his nurturing influence on fellow Britons continues to be felt. Particularly in the case of the latest Scottish tennis discovery, 22-yearold Cameron Norrie.

On Monday afternoon at Flushing Meadows, Norrie beat the former world No20 Dmitry Tursunov to claim his first grand-slam victory. Admittedly, Tursunov is now 34 and was unable to finish the match because of a litany of physical infirmities. But Norrie earned his luck with three wins in qualifying, and will now take a shot at 12th seed Pablo Carreno Busta.

Norrie, inset below, is what Theresa May might call “a citizen of the world”. Born in South Africa and largely brought up in New Zealand, he has spent the past three years at Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth. As a result, he was a less than familiar face when he arrived at Queen’s Club in June, having turned professional only a couple of weeks earlier. But it did not stop Murray making immediate contact.

“Andy came up to Cameron in the locker room at Queen’s and introduced himself,” says Norrie’s father, David. “They hit together quite a lot before Wimbledon, and the experience of playing and preparing with Andy has shown Cameron just how focused you must be to reach the top.

“Cameron was amazed at how Andy didn’t want to waste a single ball in practice. He’s a great role model. I don’t understand those who don’t like him.

Off the court he’s erudite, witty and balanced. He shows great humility. He maybe knew Cameron lacked the courage to go up and introduce himself at Queen’s, so he did it himself, which speaks volumes.”

Both David Norrie and his wife, Helen, are microbiologists who grew up in Glasgow before emigrating as graduates.

And there is some solid sporting pedigree here. “I played tennis for West of Scotland juniors and also played squash at a reasonable level, as did my wife,” David explains.

The Norrie parents live in Auckland and are usually unable to attend their son’s matches, including this week’s. The same issue – distance – explains why Cameron does not represent New Zealand. Instead, he was packed off to train at London’s National Tennis Centre for two-and-a-half years as a teenager. “You have to live here to understand the dearth of opportunities for tennis players, in New Zealand,” says David. Norrie’s first-round win will carry him inside the world’s top 200 when the next set of rankings are published. By attending TCU – where he finished as the topranked player in the US college system – he went straight in at Challenger level, the next stage up from Futures tournaments and a far more salubrious experience. He is not a power player, but his lithe movement, delicate touch and accurate lefty serve earnt him a

first Challenger title in Binghamton. “I’d like to think he can get into the top 50,” says David. “If that happens, why not aim even higher?”

Meanwhile the new world No 1, Rafael Nadal, used the phrase “strange timing” last night to describe Murray’s withdrawal from the US Open, which left him on the same side of the draw as Roger Federer.

Had Murray pulled out before the draw was arranged on Friday, the seedings would have been revised to make Federer the second seed, and thus made it impossible for the two old rivals to face each other until the final. Instead he revealed his hand at 3pm on Saturday. “It was a little bit strange that he retired just the morning [sic] after the draw was made,” said Nadal, after his 7-6, 6-2, 6-2 defeat of Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic.