Big rankings fall coming for British No 1 and it could get a lot worse

The next few weeks could be pretty painful for British No 1 Cameron Norrie, whois set to drop out of the world’s top 20 after losing his opening match to Federico Coria at the Argentina Open.

Norrie reached the final in Buenos Aires 12 months ago and has plenty of points to defend as he played against a local hero in front of a passionate Argentine crowd.

Coria proved to be too good for him on his favoured clay surface as he sealed a 6-2 4-6 6-3 win.

Norrie improved after an error-strewn opening set and managed to level the match, but more mistakes cost him dearly in the decider.

The 28-year-old will fall to at best 23 in the rankings on Monday, and he faces another drop if he is not able to mount a successful title defence at the Rio Open next week, where 12 months ago he defeated Carlos Alcaraz in the final.

If he were to go out early in Rio, he may drop outside the top 32 in the ATP rankings, which would leave him vulnerable to being outside the seeded positions for Grand Slam tournaments.

This was not in the plan for Norrie when he spoke to Tennis365 in an exclusive interview last November, as he outlined his plans for 2024.

READ MORE: Naomi Osaka’s ranking set to soar despite withdrawal confirmation

“I want to be more aggressive on court,” Norrie told Tennis365.

“Taking control of points and making things happen without waiting for them. That’s what I’m working on. You need to be brave to execute a plan and that’s what I need to do.

“There are two ways you can get confidence. Either on the practice court or on the match court. I feel I was practising really well at the back end of the year, but I lost a couple of tight matches in China.

“If you win those, you start to get momentum and things start happening. I was very close to catching that wave, but credit to my opponents in some big scenarios.

“I lost in the third set in Shanghai and then lost in Beijing against (Andrey) Rublev. I was playing against the top guys and those matches were close, so I know I don’t have to change too much to turn things in my favour.”

Norrie suggested he was disappointed with his efforts in 2023 and would aim for more in 2024, but this was always going to be a challenging period of the season for him as he has big points to defend from the South American clay court swing.

“Honestly, the way I was hitting the ball was the best of my career so far, but there is a lot of learning to do,” he added.

“The last three years, I think I have played more matches than anyone on the whole tour. There were a lot of matches and a lot of travelling, which I love. But getting a bit more experience and a little older, I’m going to look at the schedule a little closer. Maybe have one or two weeks off.

“I am a guy who always wants to do more, always wants that little bit extra. That’s my game style as well and if you are not fresh, it can be tough to do that.

“My game does not knock guys off the court with massive serving, so I need to be 100 per cent fresh. Maybe not playing one week and prioritising a bigger tournament will be something I look at.”