Wimbledon: Cameron Norrie plays down injury concerns and wants to use crowd support to his advantage | Tennis News

British No 1 Cameron Norrie has played down injury concerns heading into Wimbledon and believes the home support can be a big advantage to his hopes of going one step further than last year.

Norrie, who was knocked out in the quarter-finals at Queen’s Club by Sebastian Korda last week, wore strapping under his left knee at Hurlingham on Thursday.

He played down any injury concerns, though, saying: “I’m able to practise as usual. Having some bigger days earlier in the week and then to get these matches has been great. I’m doing everything that I can to manage it.

“I think the most important thing is just to go out there and just to put it aside. I’m going to have some discomfort at some points and that’s how it’s going to be.

“I felt really good today and I had a great performance. I’m exactly where I want to be. It’s good preparation having the matches at Queen’s and here. It’s my favourite time of year. I’m really enjoying my tennis and I’m hitting the ball I think as well as ever.”

The way he gets the crowd involved and I think I can definitely use the crowd to my advantage.

Norrie will open against Czech qualifier Tomas Machac but has his work cut out to match last year’s run to the semi-finals.

He is seeded to meet talented young American Korda in the third round, while he is in the same section as Andy Murray and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

“I’m exactly where I want to be heading into Wimbledon,” said Norrie. “It was good preparation having those matches at Queen’s and here at Hurlingham. It’s my favourite time of the year.

“I’m really enjoying my tennis and really hitting the ball as well as ever, especially coming into the grass.

“It will be nice to make a deep run but it’s still a long way to go and I’ll have to take it match by match.”

Norrie hopes to mix up his route into the All England Club with the 27-year-old aiming to cycle in every other day.

The 12th seed has positive memories of reaching the semi-finals of Wimbledon last year before going down in four sets to eventual champion Novak Djokovic.

The left-hander wants to use the home support to his advantage, saying: “I’ll try and use my experiences of going deep in tournaments and knowing that I can do it plays a big part.

“A lot of younger players haven’t played too many matches on the grass so it will be an interesting Wimbledon for sure. I’m looking forward to seeing how it goes.

“You have to enjoy the home support and use that. You see Carlos Alcaraz enjoying it so I think he’s a good guy to learn from. The way he gets the crowd involved and I think I can definitely use the crowd to my advantage.”