AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 18, 2024

Cameron Norrie

Press Conference

C. NORRIE/G. Zeppieri

3-6, 6-7, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4

CAMERON NORRIE: First of all, I want to share my condolences with Mike Dickson. Obviously you guys heard as well. Yeah, probably so tough. He was always really fair with me, really nice with me. He went out of his way to help my parents move to London, settle into London. Probably a big shock. I just wanted to see that to start it off.

Yeah, so tough waking up and finding that news.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. On the match, obviously really tough for you today. What do you feel helped you turn it?

CAMERON NORRIE: Yeah, I think it was little bit down to him. He came out firing and basically took the racquet out of my hand for the first hour and a half. Yeah, I was really flat. Yeah, I was just kind of complaining to myself about little things. Wasn't moving. Wasn't playing clear. I wasn't thinking clearly.

I just managed to rise the energy a little bit. He dropped slightly. I think when the first rain delay came, I just felt a little bit more calmer coming out to court. I got a chance to chat with my coach and change the game plan a little bit, to play a little bit more to the backhand side.

But, yeah, I was really pleased more mentally how I managed to switch it around. I was not kind of feeling good on the court. Yeah, it was not great, but I managed to finish the match.

I managed my serve so well from the start of the third.

Q. How do you feel physically after a long match?

CAMERON NORRIE: I feel great right now. I think it will be interesting to see how I pull up. Yeah, the legs feel great. Hopefully the wrist is good, as well.

I think it's just a good lesson to learn that I can play with a few distractions going on. I think that was the biggest thing, just mentally having to block that out and focus on playing and trying to play my game. Yeah, I managed to serve really well. That helped especially down the stretch.

Q. I saw you shaking out your wrist a few times. Obviously you had treatment on your knee. How much discomfort were you in? Are you concerned that it might be more of a problem in your next round?

CAMERON NORRIE: Yeah, I don't think the knee was anything. I think I just was a bit more precautionary just to see if I played through, it was nothing. He said it was fine. Actually it loosened up. I think it was probably just being very tense from the match.

Yeah, I think I have to make sure I warm up really well. Once the wrist is warm, then I'm not feeling it. So I think it's just trying to stay warm and play and not think about it. I was able to prove that in the first couple matches.

Yeah, I think I was making it a bigger deal than it probably was in the beginning of the match. I was addressing it too much. Once I switched my focus and my energy towards how to win and how to play and how to win points, I think that was key.

I think it was a good match mentally for me.

Q. You said the other day you think you're harder to beat in best-of-five, but feel you still have to prove it. Was this a good example of that, given that he zoned for two sets, but you still managed to neutralize him and come out with the win?

CAMERON NORRIE: Yeah, I was getting completely outplayed for the first two sets. I managed to play a good game to break, to go to the tiebreak. I had a few chances there. He played a better tiebreak than me and was a bit more calm than me in the tiebreak.

Then, yeah, I think he dropped a little bit. He stopped being as aggressive as he was. Ultra-aggressive... I'm not saying he was slapping the ball, but he was hitting the ball so big into the corners in kind of any direction. It wasn't like he was playing to one side more than the other.

He dropped a little bit of quality, and I was able to then move the ball around. Yeah, I think that was true. I think a lot of guys in the draw today played five sets. Kind of the underdogs are playing really well. Especially in these quicker conditions with the balls being quick, it being a bit windy...

Yeah, it was good to get through that match.

Q. Looking to your next match, Casper Ruud. Your thoughts on that? What the key factors will be there to win the match?

CAMERON NORRIE: Yeah, I haven't thought about it too much. But, yeah, he's beaten me a few times in some really big matches. Yeah, I'm going to look at those matches and see where I can improve.

I think a lot of the time was down to execution and him staying a bit more calmer than me in the bigger moments. Every time I played him, he served really, really well. I think his serve is quite underrated.

I didn't actually get a chance to watch one point of his match today, but I heard it was really high level from both. Looking forward to watching that one and then watching my previous matches with him to see what I can improve on and what I can do to make him uncomfortable out there.

Q. How much sort of extra rehab do you have to do with your wrist? After a five-setter like that, would you sort of stagger your practice a bit tomorrow, not practice as much?

CAMERON NORRIE: No, I'm going to practice as per normal. Like I said, just making sure I get a good warm-up in. My physio is taking care of everything that we can do. I think it's more just a question of how can I go out there and block it out as much as I can, knowing it's not going to make it massively worse or anything.

I think tennis players in general, there's always something going on. Could be concentration, could be focus, could be a small injury. This time it's this one for me. I think it's a good challenge for me.

I was able to overcome that big challenge today, was able to feel kind of at peace. I was playing to win, playing my game, again, from the third onwards. So I thought, yeah, he didn't have many looks on my serve after the third set, so I was really pleased with how I responded.