Cameron Norrie hoping Saudi jaunt sets him up for Australian Open

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Cameron Norrie in action

Cameron Norrie feels that a three-day exhibition event in Saudi Arabia will offer excellent preparation for the Australian Open season.

Norrie is looking forward to playing outdoors again having just wrapped the indoor swing through the European autumn.

He says that he is looking forward to feeling the sun again.

“The thing that I’m expecting the most is it isgoing to be pretty hot and a lot of sun,” Norrie admitted.

“Especially coming from from Europe where it’s winter it’s actually going to be great for us to get some sun and to be playing outside.

The field at the Diriyah Tennis Cup includes Daniil Medevedev, Andrey Rublev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Nick Kyrgios and Dominic Thiem among others.

Norrie is hoping that playing against the best in the world will stand him in good stead ahead of the 2023 season.

“When you’re practising and playing matches with the best players in the world, you automatically raise your level to playing with them.

“So like I said before, it’s going to be massive to get these matches in especially with a lot on the line and wants to be everyone and to get these matches before the Australian Open in kind of similar conditions. Hot conditions outside, Hard courts; it’s going to be great and I’m really looking forward to testing my game against the best players actually.”

Norrie implied that his knowledge of Saudi Arabia was limited to what he had seen on Lionel Messi’s Instagram account.

He is hoping to see more of the country that is quite literally a Mecca for the Arab and Muslim worlds.

“I’ve seen photos from Lio Messi he’s posted on Instagram, and it looks very cool and a very nice place.

“So hopefully I get to experience a little bit more than just kind of playing the tournament and maybe do a few things around.”

Norrie hopes that a tennis event of this magnitude will improve the sport’s popularity in Saudi Arabia.

“[Tennis] is a sport where it’s so different when you’re actually seeing and when you’re watching the ball and the players hitting the ball live rather than watching on a TV.

“It’s a big difference, and you can see the emotion of the players and the sound of the acoustics of them hitting the ball. I think it’s probably one of the best sports in the world to see live rather than watch it on TV and I recommend coming to support and you should definitely support me,” joked Norrie.

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Cameron Norrie

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