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ROLAND GARROS

May 28, 2019

Cameron Norrie

Paris, France

E. BENCHETRIT/C. Norrie

6-3, 6-0, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Deeply frustrating. Can you explain in your own words what went wrong out there.
CAMERON NORRIE: I want to say all credit to him. He played great from the start. I started a little bit nervous, and honestly, I never really got into the match at all.

When he was aggressive, he was executing. When I was aggressive, I really didn't execute anything.

So all credit to him. He was too good today.

Q. Was there an element of surprise, given his ranking isn't all that high?
CAMERON NORRIE: Not really. He's French. He's obviously good on the clay. I mean, it was really up to me today if I was going to win or lose the match, and I lost it. He took his chance and played good on big points, and, yeah, it was too good.

Q. Was there any point where you felt like, Maybe I'm getting into this a little bit?
CAMERON NORRIE: Honestly, no. I never found my level at all. I didn't execute anything. I mean, short balls, volleys, wasn't my day today.

But I'm happy for him to get his first win, and I think that's huge for him moving forward.

Q. Did you have any sort of inkling this wasn't going to be your day? Did you feel okay, wake up okay?
CAMERON NORRIE: Honestly, I felt good. Everything was great. Yeah, I just didn't -- I was hitting the ball well in the warmup, and I thought I was going to be fine. It was just one of those days. It was just a tough day, and I didn't -- it was tough for me to kind of turn it around and I couldn't find a way. I tried everything, and it was tough.

Q. Do you think in a strange way you maybe would have rather have played Nick because this guy, you know, French, not very well known? Do you think maybe Nick would have been a better match for you?
CAMERON NORRIE: Nah, I probably would have preferred to play this guy. Nick is a ridiculous player. He could have easily chopped me, as well.

I don't think I would have beaten anyone today. I don't think it mattered too much. But nah, he was decent today, but I would have preferred to play the guy I played today.

Q. How would you assess the clay court swing as a whole, then?
CAMERON NORRIE: I thought I did well. I won some tough matches. It's nice to know I'm winning at this level, and won a couple of matches in Monte-Carlo, three matches in Rome.

It was just kind of strange to do so well in those tournaments and win those tough matches and then have a couple quick easy ones. I think I just need to kind of focus on my bad days and trying to bring that higher.

I thought it was a decent clay swing as a whole.

Q. What's the itinerary now as we look towards the grass court season? Will your parents stay until Wimbledon on their cycling holiday?
CAMERON NORRIE: I've got doubles tomorrow, so focus on doubles, then yeah, the grass court season.

Q. Do you know what you're doing yet in terms of events?
CAMERON NORRIE: I'm playing Queen's, Eastbourne, Wimbledon.

Q. Will your parents stay out until Wimbledon?
CAMERON NORRIE: They're leaving just before Wimbledon.

Q. Have you spoken to them since you've come off court?
CAMERON NORRIE: No. US priority, I guess.

Q. Off topic a bit, do you know Paul Jubb?
CAMERON NORRIE: Yeah.

Q. What was your response to that, and how do you assess him as a player?
CAMERON NORRIE: I mean, obviously huge achievement to win the NCAAs, and I think it's the only Brit in history to do that.

I haven't really seen him play too much, but I know he's solid and a good athlete with a good serve. I think it's a hell of an achievement. Hopefully he can turn it into his pro game.

And he still has another year at college. Hopefully get some opportunities from the LTA, get some wildcards this summer. I'm sure he will. Hopefully he can win a couple of matches and get confidence and get his ranking up a little bit.

I'm sure he'll go back to college next year, which probably will be the smart thing to do. But, yeah, he's obviously a great prospect.

Hopefully he can follow in my footsteps and he actually -- I mean, I never won that tournament, so that's a huge achievement for him, and I'm happy for him.

Q. On the same topic, NCAAs isn't too well known over in Britain. Can you say how big of an achievement that is?
CAMERON NORRIE: It's actually a hell of an achievement. The winner actually of that, if you're American, gets a wildcard into the US Open. So it's huge for him. And I think in the UK it's a little bit -- it's not looked at as hard of a tournament. But, no, it's a great achievement.

I don't think the LTA is going to look at that lightly, and they're definitely going to give him some opportunities. Well, I think he deserves some opportunities.

Q. Listening to the way you're talking about the defeat today, you seem pretty philosophical about it. Does that hide sort of big disappointment or do you work to be like that after a defeat?
CAMERON NORRIE: No, I mean, the biggest thing -- the biggest disappointment for me today is that I didn't really bring my level and I didn't enjoy it out there. I was kind of in my own world and didn't show my level. I didn't execute.

I'm honestly not too bothered about winning. If you win and lose tennis matches, it happens. At the end of the day, it's a tennis match. But I'm just kind of disappointed I didn't kind of show my best level and I didn't lock it down.

When I'm really enjoying it, I'm kind of competing well. I don't think I competed well. That's the main disappointment for me.

Q. When you say "wildcards," do you think, like, someone who's just won an event of that stature should get main draw at Wimbledon?
CAMERON NORRIE: That's a difficult one, because he hasn't really played too many pro tournaments, but if he's winning now, I definitely think he should get a main draw Wimbledon.

But it's kind of -- I don't know if it's going to be that useful for him at this point in his career because he can't even take the prize money if he's going to go back to college. I think he definitely deserves one into quallies, and I think it will be almost better for him to play quallies to get some matches around that level and hopefully -- he could qualify easily, and it will be interesting to see what they do.

But definitely main draw or quallies. And grass is a different surface obviously to hard court, but he's a good player.

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