Cameron Norrie reached his first Grand Slam semi-final at Wimbledon last month and intends to seize his opportunity for similar success at the US Open.
Norrie’s exploits at Wimbledon were a breakthrough for the British No 1 and he goes into the year’s final Slam buoyed by more strong performances on the North American hardcourts.
He reached the final of an ATP Tour event in Mexico and then the semi-finals in Cincinnati last week.
His approach, even to his achievements at Wimbledon, though remains level-headed.
“It was a lot of fun but I don’t think [my life] everything has changed. I had the weekend there and then I left and I was preparing for the hardcourt season, the best part of my season,” he said.
Norrie warns Rafael Nadal always manages to ‘come back and play at a crazy level’
“It was a big goal at the start of the year to make the second week for the first time and to do that and go a couple further was obviously great and to play the level that I did in those rounds beyond that was very cool.
“Just the same goal, to try to make the second week again and then go from there.”
Norrie’s rise has been a story of a relentless quest for improvement. Novak Djokovic revealed after their Wimbledon semi-final that Norrie travels with his own scales and weighs himself before and after matches and practice sessions to ensure he is getting his food and hydration exactly right.
The 27-year-old is at a career-high ranking of nine and, in the absence of Djokovic and Alexander Zverev this fortnight, is seeded in the top eight at a Slam for the first time.
Despite the optimism around him, Norrie is taking a level-headed approach
That should make his path to the latter stages of the tournament smoother, and he will be one of the players looking to take advantage of what is an unusually open men’s draw, with Djokovic missing, Rafael Nadal short on matches and defending champion Daniil Medvedev not in great shape.
Norrie will not be getting ahead of himself, though, saying: “You always think Rafa is going to be done soon and he comes back and he plays a crazy level.
“I think there’s so many good guys coming through with Charlie (Carlos Alcaraz), (Jannik) Sinner, Felix (Auger-Aliassime). It is kind of a different generation coming through but I’m going to give myself the best chance and work as hard as I can in order to try and do that [win a Slam].
“I was obviously in the tournament because I was trying to win Wimbledon. It’s looking a little bit more realistic now and especially my end goal of trying to be world [number] one.”
Norrie leads a five-strong British contingent in the men’s draw, with Dan Evans also seeded and in good form, Andy Murray looking for a confidence-boosting run and Kyle Edmund back at a Grand Slam following knee surgery.
There is mounting anticipation around Britain’s Jack Draper
The most anticipation in some ways, though, surrounds 20-year-old Jack Draper, whose rapid rise shows no signs of stalling.
Draper will make his senior debut in New York but already stands on the verge of the top 50 having beaten Stefanos Tsitsipas and Dominic Thiem in recent weeks.
“I feel like I’m very confident in my ability as a tennis player,” said Draper. “And I think the exciting thing with me is that there’s so much development to come: physically, mentally, the more I play at this level, the more I get used to it.
“So I’m happy with my progress, obviously. There’s a lot of work that’s gone into getting to this point, but I’ve got to keep going because I’m still young.”
Draper has a tricky draw, with Finn Emil Ruusuvuori, who he lost to at Queen’s, first up and sixth-seed Auger-Aliassime a likely second-round opponent.
But the young Londoner possesses the weapons to trouble the entire field and is also taking inspiration from good friend Emma Raducanu’s spectacular success at Flushing Meadows.
“I was looking at the center court and I was just thinking what she did last year was unbelievable,” he said. “So I was thinking at the back of my mind, hopefully I can do that one day.”