- I was bullish about Sonay Kartal and Cameron Norrie before Wimbledon began
- The two British stars have proved me right as they continue their stunning runs
- Norrie faces Nicolas Jarry while Kartal is up against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
It has been an emotional week for me. I didn’t expect all that to come out in my press conference but that’s the beauty of sport – these things aren’t planned, they just happen.
It’s good for the fans and everybody who’s involved in the sport to see that side of players, if that’s me or whoever else.
This run over the grass has been important for me to produce some good tennis, get some points and get the ranking moving but I still lost second round to Novak, which is frustrating when you look at the way the draw has opened up nicely for a lot of people.
Looking ahead to Sunday, I was pretty bullish about Sonay and Cam’s chances in my last column before the tournament and they have backed me up!
For Sonay, she probably feels like she should be a bit more… not respected but more spoken about. People will probably think Sunday is a decent draw but I actually think it’s very hard. Pavlyuchenkova’s been playing good on the grass and is a former Grand Slam finalist.
It’s a tough match but Sonay has done great so far. It’s a really special relationship she has with her coach Ben Reeves.
If you’ve been with somebody that long, since the age of six, they’re looking after you almost as a parent figure as you move into the pro ranks together and that’s an amazing thing. It’s very unusual that somebody’s been with their coach from that age but it’s nice they get to enjoy these moments now together.
And as I said, there’s never any worry with Cam. His draw certainly opened up but he has to take advantage of it and that’s what he’s made a career out of: beating the players he should. He plays Jarry next, I would say that’s a 50/50 match, maybe Cam just about favourite.
Off the court Cam is a very relaxed guy. He does his own thing. He’s had the same team pretty much the whole way through his career – he’s very loyal to those guys and in return they’re loyal to them. He’s had a long term girlfriend in Louise and they’re all a very tight team.
I saw that he spent a couple of days in Ibiza after the French Open and I think that’s good.
The scheduling of players is nowhere near as good as it used to be, they’re playing way too much. Federer was the guy who started the idea of an abbreviated schedule and that should be done more – just taking some time off.
Cam was golfing in Ibiza, I’ve played a bit with him…he’s not the best golfer I’ve ever played with but he’s got some interesting attire on the course – and off it for that matter. Some crazy colours and patterns.
Talking of golf I saw Andy Murray and Carlos Alcaraz played a round before Wimbledon. I played with Carlos a few years ago and his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero – who is a very good golfer.
Carlos is solid too, he can obviously do a lot of improving, but that takes time, doesn’t it? And he doesn’t have much time on his hands at the minute with how he’s playing.
To touch on Jack Draper, he was a bit negative about his grass-court game after losing in the second round to Marin Cilic but I don’t see it like that.
I think he just came up against a good opponent. What people don’t understand is, Cilic just won the Nottingham Challenger and that counts for a hell of a lot to get those matches on this surface.
Cilic, it doesn’t matter what his ranking is, if he’s got some matches in his legs he’s going to be dangerous. To pull him second round is an awful draw.
