‘I was inspired by her’ - Cameron Norrie credits Emma Raducanu’s US Open title for late season boost

ByRichard Newman

Updated 21/10/2021 at 09:04 GMT

Norrie won the biggest title of his career at the weekend by claiming the Indian Wells Masters trophy, a month after Raducanu claimed the Grand Slam victory in New York. He says the confidence she showed gave him inspiration and believes more children in the UK will be picking up a racket as a result of their success.

Cameron Norrie says Emma Raducanu’s US Open victory inspired him to raise his own performance level for the rest of the season.

He secured the biggest title of his career on Sunday night, claiming the Indian Wells Masters trophy by coming from behind to beat Nikoloz Basilashvili in California.

His run at the ATP 1000 tournament means he has joined Raducanu as a British number one, a scenario barely anyone would have felt possible at the start of the year.

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Emma Raducanu with the US Open trophy

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“I mean that was utterly incredible what she did in New York, to come through qualifying and then to go out and just whack every opponent that she had, winning straight sets,” he told Sky Sports News.

“To do that at such a young age and to do it with that kind of confidence and to come out and own the court every match - it was extremely impressive.

“Definitely it's going to give the girls around the ranking that she was at before the US Open a lot of confidence and a lot of belief.

I was inspired by her triumph there in New York and as it's huge for British tennis.

“For sure it's going to put a lot of rackets in hands for the next generation of younger boys and girls to start playing tennis here at home in the UK.”

Norrie is closing in on a place at the ATP Finals, having risen to 10th in the Race to Turin rankings, but one of the players above him - Rafael Nadal - is unlikely to feature in the end-of-season tournament due to injury, effectively placing him ninth, with eight players qualifying.

Raducanu has played just one match since her win at Flushing Meadows, a defeat to Aliaksandra Sasnovich, but she is on the entry list to play in Romania - where her father is from - at the Transylvania Open next week.

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