I made right meal of first Masters win
Norrie ate in lucky Italian every night
CAM NORRIE is on course to book a seat at the top table of world tennis in Turin next month after revealing that a local Italian restaurant was the secret to his success in California.
The new British No.1 beat Nikoloz Basilashvili 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 to secure his first ATP Masters 1000 title at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
The new world No.15 is also up to 10th place in the Singles Race to qualify for the seasonending Nitto ATP Finals in Piedmont.
And Norrie, 26, said he had an appetite for Italian all week after dining every night at the lucky Mamma Gina restaurant in nearby Palm Desert.
“I went the first night,” he explained. “They told me Dominic Thiem and Juan Martin del Potro won the tournament here and they ate here every night.
“So I said I would come back if I win. I came back and had five or six nights in a row there. The same meal on match days. I mixed it up on the other days.
“I am usually never like that. Maybe it did work for me this week!”
Norrie, who started the year ranked world No.71, won his first ATP Tour title in Mexico in July and his remarkable consistency has seen him reach six finals.
The top eight players of the year will compete at the Pala Alpitour in Turin from November 14-21 – the event has moved from London’s O2.
With Rafa Nadal out injured, Norrie sits only 160 points behind ninth-placed Hubert Hurkacz Norrie and will play in Vienna, Paris and Stockholm over the next month in a late bid to qualify.
“It would be nice to make it but I’m going to keep going, keep taking care of what I can and handling what I can,” he said. “I’m looking forward to the indoor season.”
Now, despite not getting past the third round in a Grand Slam, he is only three wins away from joining Andy Murray and Tim Henman as the only British players to win 50 Tour-level matches in a year this century. Murray, who lost in the third round in Indian Wells, admitted: “I’d be lying if I said that I called that, to be honest.” He faces Frances Tiafoe at the European Open in Antwerp today. Emma Raducanu, who returns to action at the Transylvanian Open in Romania next week, is to start a trial period with Johanna Konta’s former coach Esteban Carril.