AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 16, 2026

Cameron Norrie

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: How is it to be back at the Australian Open?

CAMERON NORRIE: Yeah, really nice. Just got in yesterday and practiced already, but always nice to start the year here. So excited to get going.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Cam, just how do you feel your prep has gone? Obviously tough luck in Auckland the other day? How do you feel about your game?

CAMERON NORRIE: Yeah, I feel really, really good. I finished the year strong playing really well. I had a nice break, and we had a good preseason as well. I've played already three three-setters already against good players and tested my level.

So I feel really good. I feel like I got enough matches. I'm a guy typically who needs matches to really feel at my best. I did that. It would have been nice to go deeper in Auckland, but Giovanni did well in that match to get out of trouble and do that, but definitely a lot of good sets, a lot of close sets, and a lot of different kind of game styles.

I feel prepared for this one and fit, healthy. I'm touching the ball really well. Mentally I'm in a good place, ready to compete again here. Feeling a lot better than I did last year. Obviously I was a little bit sick going into the tournament. Can't really compare at all.

I'll take that, but it's always a bit of nerves going into the first slam of the year. You know, high expectations. Everyone is kind of reset, so I just want to go and play and enjoy my tennis like I did at the back end of the year.

Q. How satisfying was it if you look back and reflect at the end of last season and you look at where you were going into Geneva, quallies, danger of dropping outside of the top 100 and then you finished the year not only with a win over Alcaraz, but knowing that you'll be seeded for the Australian Open as well?

CAMERON NORRIE: Yeah, it was definitely looking difficult at one point in the year, but we made some good changes with my team. I think I was able to build a lot of momentum throughout the summer.

Yeah, there were a lot of obstacles, as always, but I was able to play my best tennis in some really big matches and some Grand Slam deep runs too, which helped.

Then to finish the year, especially indoors where typically I've not really had the best results to beat a world No. 1 like Alcaraz in the Masters 1000, was massive. And then to back it up again in the next week in a 250 and beat a lot of players that I was very close in ranking.

Yeah, I wasn't really thinking too much about the seeding of Australia. I guess it's nice now being here, and the draw is out and you're not playing against a top player in the first couple of rounds is nice, but it was never really a goal of mine to be pushing to be seeded for Australia, but I'll take it.

Yeah, I'll definitely sign for starting the year 28 or 27 in the world coming into the year with the whole year to play healthy, another year of experience, and especially probably the first year of my career I went down in the rankings, and I had to fight my way back up. So it was definitely a lot of learning.

Nice to know that I have the ability to do that, and it's not always going to be smooth sailing and always increasing the ranking and level. I feel like I'm on the way back up, but it's still -- there are so many good players, so going to have to play my best to keep pushing up.

Q. When you were in that situation, did you ever fear that you wouldn't get it back?

CAMERON NORRIE: I think maybe deep down maybe yes, but I wanted to be back so badly that I think it was causing me not to do it. I think once I took a step back and realized some basic things, that everything was okay and I was just there playing tennis, I stopped thinking about those things very quickly, and I was very quickly back.

It just takes a few big results, especially at the ranking where I was, I think I was maybe 89 or 90 at one stage just before Geneva, and I was back very quickly to 50. I actually don't really remember. I was just playing matches and matches, and it was nice to play.

I moved up quite fast. I think there's always that doubt, but in hindsight it wasn't really... Even if you go down, it doesn't matter. You're there playing tennis, and there's always going to be another problem even if you are doing well, yeah.

Q. In Brisbane I think I heard you say the jet lag had been particularly brutal or tough. Was it more tough than usual? How do you deal with that? Are you someone that can cope well with it or not?

CAMERON NORRIE: Yeah, I was getting up early, so in the first few nights I felt like I slept well. I was, like, 3:00 a.m., ready to go. I think it didn't help there were a lot of Premier League matches at that time, and I was checking the scores. I was seeing all my Fantasy players not scoring. I was so pissed off, and I couldn't go back to sleep. I think that was a little bit to do with my Fantasy more than the actual jet lag and the Premier League matches and wanting to watch those and wake up early.

We did our best, and we're in a good routine of waking up early, and I quite like that rather than being tough to wake up. Then again, it was nice to come from New Zealand here. We're here early, but the jet lag was to our advantage at this time. We're here, practiced, and done.

Q. You guys travel so much across the globe. Do you have a particular strategy when you are traveling? Is there anything you do coming here?

CAMERON NORRIE: I think just not give into that nap, that afternoon where you know you're going to have the best sleep of your life in the afternoon, but you just tough it out. I think trying not to look at your phone too much in the morning and maybe muting the notifications for goals. That's probably a good strategy.

Q. Is that the league that the other tennis players have Fantasy League?

CAMERON NORRIE: Yeah, yeah.

Q. There's quite a lot of banter about it.

CAMERON NORRIE: Not too much banter, but just we're following all the matches. It's a good way to stay on top of it. I'm doing it more with my team. My coach, Facu, who is not doing it, he doesn't follow too much, but I think a lot of wasted time on looking at different transfers and stuff. It's good fun.

Q. Some Newcastle players on your team?

CAMERON NORRIE: I did. I took Woltemade out the week before he scored. The next week he scored two, so I was not happy.

Q. Who is winning?

CAMERON NORRIE: I think James Trotman is just in front of me, yeah.

Q. You are high up?

CAMERON NORRIE: I was, but I think I've dropped. I haven't looked at the league in a few weeks (laughing).

Q. You've been in all sorts of different situations, but there's no Jack to handle most of the pressure from a British point of view. When you are the man leading, do you like that?

CAMERON NORRIE: To be honest, I'm not thinking about that too much. I would prefer Jack to be here healthy. I really like watching him play. It's been probably a tough period for him. I know he was very close to being ready to play. So I would love to see him back playing. Especially we have kind of similar games, so I really enjoy watching his matches and learning from the way he is structuring points, winning points.

In terms of that, I'm not thinking about that too much. I'm more trying to win my matches. I think for me and the other Brits, I think it's always nice to see more and more players, especially in the quallies, in the main draw. I think you can see it a lot with the other countries where they're pushing each other along. They're competing with one another. I really like that.

I saw a lot of the boys in the quallies this week. It's nice to see Arthur get through. But yeah, it will be nice. I think the whole group of guys, I don't see any reason why not they can be a top 100.

Q. Have you seen your draw?

CAMERON NORRIE: I have. I play Bonzi.

Q. Yeah, obviously is it Metz that you had that final before? What are you expecting from this one?

CAMERON NORRIE: Yeah, I haven't watched him too much recently, but he's a very complete player. Really good first serve, world-class backhand. I haven't watched him. Recently this year I saw him in Brisbane practicing a lot.

But I think it's a nice first round. You know, he's not going to blast you off the court. You're not going to have no rhythm. I think quite a clear strategy for me and the way I want to play points, but I'm going to have to execute. It's going to be difficult.

The courts seemed quite quick in practice. It was not easy to practice today with the wind. So it's going to be tough for both of us if it's similar like this.

I think it's another Grand Slam, we can look at all the positives: healthy, fit, and a great match to play. Great match for both of us to play. I think we're both going to be ready and excited and happy to get going on Sunday.

It's not thinking. We're ready to play our matches, and let's get going.

Q. Fery mentioned the other day that he has a similar injury to Jack. You had a bone bruise a couple of years ago, right? That was your injury? I'm curious if you shared intel with them at all or if they came to you for advice?

CAMERON NORRIE: Yeah, I had a bone bruise in my wrist at the beginning I think of 2024. Yeah, I remember Arthur did message me and was asking what I thought and anything I did.

I think it was a little bit different than what my one was. But for me, I had to be so uncomfortable for six months or four months at the start of the year. It was a lot of anti-inflammatories, and playing at the beginning on that was difficult.

I think how much you can tolerate is only up to you, and I don't really know the repercussions of if you keep pushing it and keep hammering the spot, if something can happen or the bone can crack. I don't really know the ins and outs of what happened to Jack.

I know Arthur has been struggling a lot last year, and he didn't play a full year. Already his ranking is very high up, and we know how good his top level is. To see that he got through quallies quite comfortably was impressive.

I think it's just something tennis players have to deal with, and they have to have the right people around them to make the best decisions on their career.

It's tough, but nice to see Arthur doing well again. I think there's no doubts about his top level.

Q. For you, was it hard to know when it was healed and when it was better?

CAMERON NORRIE: Yeah, I think we came to the conclusion that it was to do with the balls that one year. As soon as we changed from the Dunlop ball, I seemed to slowly improve.

We also came to the conclusion that it was not going to get worse, or there was not going to be any tear or anything getting worse. I needed to just tough it out and get through the first 30 minutes of practice and then just try to block it out. That was a tough period.

But once I stopped feeling it, it was very nice. I think if you ask any top player, there's always going to be small niggles and things going on that you're not too comfortable with.

I think right now for me, I'm feeling lucky to be feeling good again. I had a few things last year, but for now, it's nice just to be able to play tennis and not thinking too much about small injuries or small niggles and really staying on top of your body and making sure that you're ticking all the right boxes.

There's always going to be something else around the corner probably.