Wimbledon | Norrie grateful for the crowd support

Cameron Norrie has pledged to put friendship aside when he takes on pal Tommy Paul for a place in the Wimbledon quarter-finals on the first permanent Middle Sunday of play in the world’s most famous and respected tournament.

It was great to see the crowd reacting and it definitely added to the atmosphere of the match. Honestly, it was pretty funny (the chanting) Cameron Norrie

The British No.1 carries the hopes of the nation in the men’s singles after Liam Broady was knocked out by home favourite Jack Draper’s conqueror Alex De Minaur on Saturday afternoon.

And he has no intention of applying the old pals act in his first appearance in the last-16 of a major.

The 26-year-old left hander, seeded nine, said: “It’s going to be a battle for sure. Tommy won really comfortably (in his third round match up with Jiri Vesely). I think grass is probably his best surface. He seems really locked in and he really likes the grass. It is going to be really tough, regardless if the draw is open or not.

“At the end of the day I’ll take it. I practice with Tommy. He a good friend of mine. We’ve actually practised maybe two or three times already here at Wimbledon. We know each other’s game very well. Good friends off the court. But we’re going to both leave that aside on Sunday.”

And it seems the draw is opening up with 23rd Frances Tiafoe reckoned to be favourite to face the winner of Norrie and Paul.

But the world No.12, of course, is not looking beyond Paul.

And he hopes the Centre Court crowd will play their part like they did as Norrie dismissed Paul’s compatriot Steve Johnson in straight sets in the third round.

The football chant of “Norrie, Norrie, Norrie, oi, oi, oi” he revealed was particularly useful.

Norrie said: “I played really well and enjoyed it. It was great to see the crowd reacting and it definitely added to the atmosphere of the match. Honestly, it was pretty funny (the chanting). I don’t know why I was thinking, every time they sang it, I broke serve. It was a good sign. I’m a little bit superstitious. But when you’ve got the momentum and everything is kind of going your way, it can help. I’ll definitely take that.

“On the flip side of that, if I was down in the score, they can bring me through it. Trying to use it to my advantage as much as I can. It was good fun out there.”

Norrie is thriving in the spotlight, rather than being strung out by any pressure of home hopes resting on his shoulders.

He said: “I was very, very relaxed (against Johnson). It was one of the bigger matches in my career obviously. And to make the second week for the first time. I had a great opportunity and I managed to play at the level that I wanted to.

“It’s a lot of fun being the British No.1, playing on Centre Court, being in the spotlight, and playing to that level that I did against Steve. I embraced it and really enjoyed it.”

There will be 15,000 – if they take their seats in time unlike they did against Johnson – inside Centre Court and millions around Britain who hope he continues to embrace it against Paul.