Cameron Norrie and Sonay Kartal flying the home flag at Wimbledon

Yahoo

a day ago

By James Toney at Wimbledon
Cameron Norrie's intense dedication to an exhausting fitness regime is famed on the ATP Tour, while his idea of relaxation is a game of backgammon.
On court, there have been two Camerons too – lethal one day and lacklustre the next.
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And there's another L-word that forms a crucial part of his game: loyalty, Norrie's rise to the world's top ten masterminded by close friend Facundo Lugones.
However, form and fitness saw unseeded Norrie arrive here outside the world's top 50, prompting suggestions he should make a change.
Top players are not known for reflecting for long, with the job security of a tennis coach measured in months, not years.
Norrie and Lugones – who nicknames the British No. 3 'chicken' – were friends and team-mates at Texas Christian University and have worked together since 2017, when he made his Grand Slam debut at the All England Club.
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The son of a Welsh mother and Scottish father, born in South Africa, raised in New Zealand, studied in the United States, representing Great Britain and coached by an Argentine, Norrie is certainly the Boutros Boutros-Ghali of tennis.
'I didn't know what to expect when we started working together but the important thing was, we had trust,' said Norrie.
'It's a really unique relationship. He's passionate about tennis like me, and I never feel like we are sick of each other.
'He knows what it takes to be a top player and we've got confidence in each other. I think he does a good job of being a friend and coach.
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'I trust in all my team and it's not just about doing that when things are going well.'
Norrie has certainly ridden the rollercoaster since the high of his semi-final appearance here three years ago but that's nothing compared to fourth round opponent Nicolás Jarry, with either defending champion Carlos Alcaraz or Andrey Rublev waiting for the winner.
Jarry hit the world's top 16 in 2022 but soon after was diagnosed with vestibular neuritis, a condition which affects his vision and balance, pretty essential for a deep run in Grand Slam tennis.
You'd have got long odds on Norrie and Sonay Kartal being the last British players in their respective singles draws on middle Sunday.
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Kartal is charting new territory in a Grand Slam last 16 with Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova her opponent, just one place separating them in the rankings at number 51 and 50 respectively.
But the British number three has been playing without fear this week, happy to fly under the radar, with the focus on Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper.
Karaoke-loving Kartal is happily writing her own tune at the All England Club and the winner of this encounter will face either Linda Noskova or Amanda Anisimova in the quarter-finals.
Since the age of six, Kartal has been coached by Julie Hobbs, who as Julie Pullin reached the second round here a quarter of a century ago. She spotted something immediately in the ambidextrous 23-year old but unlike Raducanu, who benefited from LTA support from a young age, Kartal had to earn her funding, though insists fighting for recognition improved her game.
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'When I was growing up, I did quite a lot of tournaments on my own just because I couldn't afford to pay a coach week in and week out," she said.
'It helped me develop as a teenager, grow up super-fast, made me much more mature, hold myself accountable to a lot of things.
'The LTA have helped me massively since and are a great supporter, but it was when I started to come on the scene and was putting together a few good wins consistently.'
For the latest action on the British summer grass court season, check out the LTA website.