Smith tips Norrie to go all the way in New York

LEON SMITH believes Cam Norrie could be arriving in Glasgow to compete in the Davis Cup as the newly-crowned US Open champion.

Norrie, whose dad is Scottish, reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon earlier this year where he gave eventual champion Novak Djokovic a scare before going on to lose in four sets.

The world No11 has been in fine form since then and this week reached the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Open, playing Borna Coric for a place in the final late last night.

The hard-court specialist will be among the favourites when the US Open gets underway next week, with the final just two days before Great Britain welcomes the United States, the Netherlands and Kazakhstan to the Emirates Arena for the Davis Cup.

And team captain Smith sees no reason why his star player can’t go all the way at Flushing Meadows.

‘Cam could be coming here as the US Open champion,’ he said. ‘The semi-final at Wimbledon was massive for him. It was not just about getting to the semis. It was also playing well against Novak.

‘He now realises that, on another surface or if he had raised his game five percent, he had a chance to beat the guy who won the tournament.

‘He will feel now he has got a shot at winning a Slam, whereas beforehand it was just about reaching the second week.

‘This is also his best surface and he does say that, although he’s pretty much got a game for all surfaces. But hard court is what he is most used to.’

Norrie’s rise to prominence means there won’t be the same pressure on Andy Murray to perform at the Davis Cup this time around. In previous editions — including in 2015 when GB lifted the trophy — all eyes were on the Scot to deliver. Now Smith believes in Norrie, Dan Evans and Joe Salisbury he has a group of players all capable of winning.

He added: ‘The bottom line is that we have a strong team. I think all of them are at the stage of their careers where they all want to play in both singles and doubles. You want to play in front of a packed house because these moments don’t come along that often.

‘The pressure will be off Andy a little because of the strength of the team but there is a different feeling among them.

‘I get the feeling there is such respect between the group they will accept to a degree whoever is going out there to do a job.’

Tickets are available at lta.org.uk/ daviscuptickets starting at £5 for children and £10 for adults.