Norrie motivated to end best year on a high
CAMERON Norrie is hoping to end an incredible season by helping Great Britain achieve more Davis Cup success.
The 26-year-old has climbed from No.71 in the rankings at the start of the year to a career high of No.12, winning Indian Wells along the way, and finds himself leading the British team in just his third appearance in the competition.
Norrie has played 74 tour level matches this season, winning 50, and he said: “Obviously it’s been a long year for all of us. We played a lot of matches.
“I think it’s great to end the year like this as a team. We’re all very tight, we’ve had a great week so far of practice, a lot of games. We’ve been really enjoying ourselves.
“I feel refreshed. I feel ready to compete. No better way to finish the year than to play for your country, play as a team.”
Norrie made one of the great Davis Cup debuts, coming from two sets down to beat Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut in one of his first matches on clay in 2018, but was upset by Uzbekistan’s Jurabek Karimov when he took on the No.1 role later the same year. No.2 Dan Evans, ranked No.25, has been a mainstay of the team for more than a decade and he highlighted the spirit generated by captain Leon Smith and his backroom staff that has been such an important part of Britain’s recent over-achievement in the competition.
“Before we came, Leon made
it clear to us it wouldn’t be a stressful lead-up, it would be a lot of fun,” said the 31-year-old.
“I think that’s why the backroom staff are who they are because they’ve made that pretty clear from the day we got here, that we’d have a lot of fun and still be professional but keep the sessions nice and short and sharp.
“I feel fresh. I just say thanks to those guys for making that happen and giving us the best chance for us to go out tomorrow and hopefully the coming days and doing well.”
Britain will play their group matches behind closed doors in Innsbruck because of Austria’s lockdown, taking on France today and the Czech Republic tomorrow.
Their highest-ranked player will be making his debut, with world doubles No.3 Joe Salisbury having received his first call-up.
The 29-year-old, who is set to partner Neal Skupski, has had two brilliant seasons, winning four grand slam titles across men’s and mixed doubles.
He said: “It’s been a lot of fun. Obviously a new experience for me. But everybody has been very welcoming on the team. It’s something I’ve been really looking forward to, wanting to do for a long time.
“I’ve always loved playing team events, whether it’s playing college or events like Battle of the Brits in the past, ATP Cup a couple years ago. Obviously this is the ultimate, the biggest one, one I’ve always wanted to play in.”