“Djokovic is a nightmare to play and Medvedev serves from a tree” Cameron Norrie makes his evaluation of the Top-2 players in the World

British No. 1 and World No. 12 Cameron Norrie fell just short of making his debut at the year-end championships after making a late charge to qualify for the ATP Finals 2021. Norrie is the second alternate behind Italian youngster Jannik Sinner who is the first alternate in case any of the 8 qualified players is unable to play due to some reason.

Norrie won 2 titles this year, his maiden ATP title in Los Cabos and then won his first Masters title at the 2021 Indian Wells that was postponed to the end of the season. He played in a total of 6 finals this year across surfaces. Despite not qualifying for the Finals, the Brit is following the tournament closely and made his evaluation about Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev, the top-2 seeds at the Finals.

Speaking about the World No. 1 and heavy favourite for the title Novak Djokovic, Norrie said, “I think there’s no real game plan with Novak. He has such a complete game, moves so well, you can’t get the ball past him. I also think his first serve is very underrated. He’s a nightmare to play. I’ve never played him, but if I were to play him, it would be a nightmare.

“I haven’t thought about [a game plan] too much, but he’s pretty good [with his] first serve [and first] ball, he’s pretty good in long rallies and he moves exceptionally well. He’s probably the best mover on Tour and his backhand is insane as well, so it’s tough. He’s a very good player,” added Norrie.

“Deuce, Ad-in, Deuce, Ad-in” Cameron Norrie on what it is to play Medvedev

While Cameron had not played against Novak, he has played only 1 match against Medvedev, a 2nd round clash at the 2019 Shanghai Masters where Medvedev won in straight-sets and eventually went on to win the title, his 2nd career Masters title.

“Medvedev is tricky because he serves from a tree and his service games usually last 45 seconds. Then you still have to serve and you’re playing 10-minute games, Deuce, Ad-in, Deuce, Ad-in. You finally hold and you’re back serving again within 45 seconds because he’s got a great serve. But he’s very consistent from the baseline and he plays very deep,” said Norrie.

While Norrie did not point out who is he backing for the title, it will be an interesting battle as Medvedev looks to defend his title and become just the 7th man in the history to defend his ATP Finals title while Djokovic is looking to tie Roger Federer for 6 title wins at the Year-End Championships.

Also Read: Andy Murray’s Magical Run in 2016: 5 consecutive titles from 24 straight wins

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