Norrie pleased with Wimbledon seeding but taking nothing for granted

BRITISH No.1 Cameron Norrie finds it “pretty cool” to be seeded ninth at this year’s Wimbledon but knows it does not guarantee a deep run at his home major.

The ranking of the 26-year-old has impressively risen over the last 12 months with victory at Indian Wells in October a key milestone.

Norrie was seeded 29th at the All England Club in 2021 and it meant he faced Roger Federer in the third round, with the Swiss great triumphing in four sets.

While the world No.12 will not take anything for granted, he knows being a high seed should help his chances of making the second week of a Grand Slam having reached the last 32 on five occasions.

“It’s great. Being seeded helps,” Norrie said. “I will take it one match at a time and for me I have still not reached the second week so it would be nice to do that. I guess the seeding helps and that is a result of winning matches and stringing them together, so I will take that.

“Being ninth is pretty cool and pretty crazy. It all happened pretty quickly, getting up there, which has been a lot of fun but it still means nothing. You still have to win the matches.”

Norrie is bumped up three places compared to his world ranking due to the absence of Russian and Belarusian athletes after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.

World No.1 Daniil Medvedev and Russian compatriot Andrey Rublev are both missing, while world No.2 Alexander Zverev is also out due to injury.

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal assume the top two men’s seeding while British No.2 Dan Evans is seeded 29th.

US Open champion Emma Raducanu will be the 10th seed in the women’s draw. The teenager, who has been battling an injury to her side in the build-up to the tournament, advances one place from her world ranking due to

Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka being ineligible to compete.

Iga Swiatek tops the women’s seeds ahead of Anett Kontaveit.

Meanwhile, Nadal and Djokovic both kick-started their Wimbledon preparations with easy exhibition wins at the Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic.

Nadal beat Stan Wawrinka 6-2, 6-3, at the Hurlingham Club in London, while Djokovic won 6-2, 6-1, against Canada’s Felix AugerAliassime.