Jim Courier explains the ‘cruel’ thing Cam Norrie must do to beat Novak Djokovic at the French Open

Follow us on Google Discover

Cam Norrie will compete in one of the biggest matches of his career at the French Open.

The Brit has enjoyed a return to form since the clay court season began and reached the last four at the Geneva Open before arriving in Paris.

Following Norrie’s surprise win over Daniil Medvedev in the opening round of Roland Garros, he will take on Novak Djokovic to try and reach the quarter-finals for the first time.

This will be a rematch from Geneva, where the Serbian claimed a three-set win over Norrie before going on to win his 100th ATP Tour title.

Jim Courier explains how Cam Norrie can beat Novak Djokovic at the French Open

Since his epic five-set win against Medvedev in round one, Cam Norrie has not dropped any more sets at the French Open. The 29-year-old is beginning to look more like the player he was while ranked as the British number one.

But if he wants to continue his best ever campaign at the clay court Grand Slam, he will need to defeat Djokovic for the first time.

It will be a tough task, especially with Djokovic now having returned to form, but Jim Courier thinks there may be a way that Norrie can break the 22-time Grand Slam champion down.

“If I were Facundo Lugones the one thing I would be planting in Cam’s ear is ‘look, this guy is a tennis God, but he is also 38 years old,” Courier told TNT Sports. “We saw him get injured here last year in a physical five-set match, use your physicality to test him.

“He got injured against Alcaraz in Australia. I hate to be a little bit cruel, but honestly that may be the best way forward for him and if that is, so be it. Djokovic doesn’t have weaknesses in his game but his body is not the same as it was as far as resilience goes.”

Has Cam Norrie played Novak Djokovic at a Grand Slam before?

Norrie has played Djokovic on five previous occasions and has yet to score a victory.

Their only previous meeting at a Grand Slam came at the semi-final stage of the 2021 Wimbledon Championships.

This is the biggest match of Norrie’s career and he began well by taking the opening set.

But Djokovic soon hit his stride and went on to complete a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 victory and advance to the final, where he faced Matteo Berrettini.

The Italian opened up a one-set lead but as he did against Norrie, Djokovic completed a four-set win and lifted the sixth of his seven Wimbledon titles.