US OPEN

August 29, 2023

Cameron Norrie

Press Conference

C. NORRIE/A. Shevchenko

6-3, 6-2, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Straight sets, 91 minutes, brisk. Could you assess your performance.

CAMERON NORRIE: Yeah, I thought it was obviously nice to get through that one straight sets. I played well in the big moments, served well. I was enjoying myself.

Yeah, it was a lot of points on my terms and a lot of physical rallies, long points, and the courts were quite slow. I think it played into my hands. So it was, yeah, good performance and overall I was moving solid, and I did everything pretty well.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. What was different in that performance today compared to what sort of happened since Wimbledon?

CAMERON NORRIE: Yeah, I think I had a good week's preparation. And as a team, we really wanted to bring a lot of quality to the sessions and try to keep things quite short in terms of the practice and preparation.

I really enjoyed the week before, and I was able to reset, go back to TCU where I went to college and spent a few days there with some of my old coaches and to see some of the team and the boys and I practiced with them a little bit.

I always have good feelings coming to New York. And, yeah, I think I set the tone really high in terms of the standard in my practices, and I think it showed going into the match today. I think definitely I was a bit more calm on the court and managed my serve really well and served well in the big moments.

Q. That's really interesting about you going back to TCU. Who is the head coach there? Is it still the same guy?

CAMERON NORRIE: Yeah.

Q. Did you...

CAMERON NORRIE: Roditi is his name. David Roditi.

Q. Did you actually get him to look at technical stuff or was it more from a...

CAMERON NORRIE: Actually, I played golf with him. Didn't do any tennis. Yeah, I was playing on the court and practicing with some of the boys and got to hang out with Pennington Jones and some of the younger Brits.

Yeah, I just kind of reset there and got some good rest in. Like I said, when I got here, was able to get good quality in my sessions and I was really enjoying the practices. Got to practice yesterday with Alcaraz. Had a really good practice, and I think it really set the tone yesterday and I was able to put it into my match today.

Yeah, it was not an easy match. Shevchenko has had a good year so far. I know his game quite well. Practiced with him a few times. I was able to play longer points and win some of the tough games. It was a nice match to play in the first round to get a lot of rhythm.

Q. That was actually your fastest-ever Grand Slam victory. I just wondered, is it as nice as you felt on court at one of the four majors for some time?

CAMERON NORRIE: Yeah, I didn't know that (smiling).

No, I always feel good coming to New York, and, yeah, I think I was really hungry to get a win. You know, I hadn't had too many in the last few weeks.

I wanted to keep my head down and keep going point for point. I really gave the guy nothing. You know, I think I missed only a few balls in the first kind of hour and 20 minutes. I was able to keep my concentration throughout the whole match. Yeah, I gave him nothing. Played long points and I was able to spread the ball around with my forehand.

Yeah, it was a good win, but on to the next one.

Q. Have you been back to TCU much over the years? How did this visit come about?

CAMERON NORRIE: I hadn't. I was always planning to but I ended up always doing too well in Cincinnati last year so just came straight here. Then obviously I was going to go another time, but it didn't work out.

Yeah, I think it was I lost early in Cincinnati, and it was too early to come here. Yeah, so I was able to just go there and rest and, yeah, practice on those courts again. Just be on those courts and kind of feel, yeah, kind of reset.

It was really enjoyable to go there and see everyone there. But it was insanely hot. It was like over 40 every day. So trying to practice early. Then came here, and it was, like, nothing. It was so easy to play in the heat here.

Yeah, it was a good few days, but then we came here quite early, anyway, but nice to get back there.

Q. What would you say to anybody that may be doubting you and saying maybe your results from last year or even beginning of this year, they were expecting you to come down now? What would you say to those people?

CAMERON NORRIE: What was the question?

Q. What would you say to anybody that maybe might be doubting you and that your results from last year or even the beginning of this year, winning the Rio final, are now expecting you to maybe come back down now?

CAMERON NORRIE: Yeah, I mean, I think it's always going to be ups and downs in someone's career. I think, yeah, for me I went through playing not where I wanted to be.

Yeah, I think it's completely normal, and I had such a great start to the year and such a good last couple years. I think I've got a great team around me, and I think it's, for me, I know I have the confidence in me to come back.

Yeah, I'm really feeling good already this week. I think it's, yeah, kind of my best surface here on the hard courts. Yeah, I'm really going to take it match by match and get back to where I was at the beginning of this year.

I think it starts on the practice court and then I was able to show that on the match court today. Yeah.

Q. Can you just tell where exactly is TCU?

CAMERON NORRIE: It's in Fort Worth.

Q. Fort Worth? Actually in the city?

CAMERON NORRIE: Yeah, just ten minutes away.

Q. You mentioned practicing with Carlos. Curious, do you, like, decide who you want to practice with? Do you delegate that to Faku? Has the quality of practice changed since going from being just inside the top 100 to being a top player?

CAMERON NORRIE: Faku, my coach, is very organized with the practices so he's asking all the other coaches in advance. Yeah, I think he has a good relationship with Juan.

Yeah, I'm always practicing or trying to play with the best players and kind of different players. I think for me I just, I really enjoy playing with him and playing points with him, because you can't really leave the ball short or kind of take anything off the ball, because he's going to be the one dictating play.

He's always enjoying the practice and bringing a lot of flair and excitement to the practice court. Kind of you feed off that energy and I had a really good session yesterday.

Yeah, like I said, I was able to, yeah, to put it on the match court today.

Q. You probably won't agree with this because I know how you like to rack up the matches, is there an argument you have actually played a little bit less you might be kind of fresh? You haven't had such as many wins since Wimbledon.

CAMERON NORRIE: Yeah, definitely feel fresh. Haven't played too many matches. Yeah, I'd rather play more matches. It's obviously a good sign. I'm feeling, yeah, fresh physically and we had a good week, like I said.

Yeah, gonna take it match by match. I think it's important to stay fresh mentally, and, yeah, really take care of that win today, enjoy that tonight, and then go out on the practice court tomorrow and keep improving, keep enjoying.

Yeah, for sure. For sure I'm more fresh than I was the last few years. I guess you can look at it in a positive way and take that. Yeah, I'm looking forward to the next match and tomorrow's practice.

Q. So the statistics show that you won a majority of the short points, the medium points, and the long points. Was that one of your strategies to try to be effective, you know, in all different shot levels or rally levels?

CAMERON NORRIE: I think it's a good stat (smiling). Winning all the short ones and medium and long, yeah, I was honestly trying to get out there and do that and win all those points.

Yeah, I think I was really trying to, in the first couple shots, especially returning, trying to rush him. I actually watched Dan Evans play him only a few weeks ago and he was taking the second-serve return really early.

I watched that match, and Evo was executing that really well and I was able to return the second serve probably as best as I could today, so definitely helped.