- British No 1 Cam Norrie was forced to pull out of this week’s Paris Masters
- But the 28-yaer-old says he will be fit for for next month’s Davis Cup finals
- Dan Evans has withdrawn from the team because of a calf injury
Great Britain will be without Dan Evans for next month’s Davis Cup finals showdown with Serbia, but in a boost for the team Cam Norrie has assured that he will be fit and available.
Leon Smith’s squad were looking like being without their two highest ranked singles players when Evans was confirmed as having a tear in his calf muscle and Norrie pulled out of this week’s Paris Masters due to a combination of burnout and a sore knee.
The latter, however, pledged that he will be in Malaga in late November, where GB aim to progress beyond the quarter final, which will see their opponents will be led by world No 1 Novak Djokovic.
He also expressed the hope that Evans – who Djokovic identified as the biggest threat after his excellent performance in the September’s group stage – will be there to support and provide the kind of energy that just about carried them through in Manchester’s group stage last month.
‘I know how much he loves Davis Cup and how much he wants to be part of the team,’ said Norrie. ‘He really got us this far so it is a huge blow for us. We love having him around and hopefully he can come to Malaga to be there with us.’
British No 1 Cam Norrie says he will be fit and available for the Davis Cup finals
Great Britain will be without Dan Evans for next month’s showdown with Serbia
Evans retired from his opening match at the Vienna Open last Wednesday with a calf injury, and scans have revealed a significant tear. He will not play again this year but is optimistic that he will be back for the start of next season in Australia.
Among the dilemmas for Smith, the Captain, is who will now partner Neal Skupski in the doubles. The likelihood is that it will be US Open champion Joe Salisbury, although he and the Liverpudlian have only played together on five previous occasions.
With Jack Draper falling short of the qualifying entry and having to play a Challenger in Italy this week, the only GB singles player at the season’s final Masters event ends up being Andy Murray, who faces one of his least favourite opponents, Australian Alex de Minaur, in the first round.
Norrie has had a poor six months by his standards of the last three years and explained his surprise absence from Paris, saying: ‘I was just feeling a little bit tired from the season, I hurt my right knee in China and I was feeling it. We have Davis cup coming up and I wanted to be fresh and right in myself for that. It’s big priority for me this season.’
He appears to be paying the price of foregoing an off-season at the end of last year to play exhibitions, and his form has dipped since an excellent first two months of 2023 that saw him beat Carlos Alcaraz to claim the title in Rio de Janeiro.
‘The season is very long and there’s no doubt it took its toll on me. I’m the kind of guy who needs to fight through and it kind of caught up with me. I lost a lot of close matches at the end of the season. Looking back, when I have taken rest I have come back stronger and better, and it has been a long season.
‘After Wimbledon I took a few days off but I haven’t had a period when I’ve had a week away from tennis in quite a while. I’m going to go to Monaco and get some rest, I will swim a lot and do lots of different things but there won’t be any tennis.’
