Andy Murray talks up Cameron Norrie, but David Goffin feels beating ‘alien’ Novak Djokovic will be a step too far

Wimbledon
Cameron Norrie plays a shot

Andy Murray has hailed Cameron Norrie’s top-class attitude ahead of his Wimbledon clash against Novak Djokovic, however David Goffin is not too convinced about the British No 1’s chances as “Novak is just an alien, and to beat an alien, I don’t know how”.

Before the start of Wimbledon, Norrie’s best performances at the majors were runs to the third round of all four Slams, but he now finds himself in the last four after a dream summer at SW19.

He reached his maiden Grand Slam semi-final with a five-set marathon win over Goffin in the last eight on Tuesday, but he will be up against it in on Friday as he will take on six-time champion Djokovic.

The Serbian will be the overwhelming favourite, but two-time Wimbledon winner Murray believes Norrie’s work ethic and desire are key to his fortunes.

“Every time I’ve been on court with him or around him, he’s had a top-class attitude,” Murray told the Evening Standard. “He gets the most out of every practice session, works extremely hard and he’s making the most of his talent and ability.

“He’s one of the best players in the world and he’s been doing it consistently for the last seven or eight months.

“I don’t believe that you get into the top positions in the world without working extremely hard. You would hope every player would be like that and try to get the most out of themselves like Cam, but that isn’t the case.”

Emma Raducanu stunned the sporting world when she won the US Open last year and Murray feels you can never write anyone off until the umpire calls “game, set and match”.

“We’ve seen some stuff in tennis over the last few years that no one expected, like with Emma,” the former world No 1 said.

“It is an unbelievably difficult ask but the thing that you can guarantee with Cam is he will give himself the best opportunity to win because he will fight for every single point, he’s going to compete extremely hard and he doesn’t make it easy for anyone.”

Djokovic is looking to win a fourth consecutive Wimbledon title and he heads into Friday’s match 26-0 at SW19 since 2018 and Goffin finds it difficult to look past a Djokovic win.

“If he’s playing the tennis of his life maybe, and Novak is not feeling well, we never know, but Novak is Novak,” the Belgian said.

“He’s playing even better when the crowd is against him. Novak is just an alien, and to beat an alien, I don’t know how.”

Andy Murray Cameron Norrie David Goffin

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