Britain’s number-two ranked tennis star Cameron Norrie reveals his gruelling training programme and why working hard off court is reaping the benefits on it
Britain’s Cameron Norrie has been ranked as high as number eight in the world and was, until this year, the country’s leading player. His steady rise to the upper echelons of the tennis elite saw him break into the world’s top 100 in 2018 – and never look back.
Known as one of the hardest workers off court, he has a gruelling fitness programme overseen by former rugby player-turned-fitness-coach Vaclav Jursík. Men’s Fitness caught up with the pair after a gruelling session to find out what it takes to be one of the world’s best tennis players.
MF: In terms of training, how much time is spent on fitness and strength & conditioning compared to time spent on court?
Vaclav Jursík (VJ): It’s a tough question. Players compete so much that inevitably it gets to a point where they just need to rest. But because Cam was injured we had this ‘luxury’ of having five weeks to work together before pre-season. Right now, the focus is more about staying on the court and building confidence.
Having said that, we will be doing one S&C session a day for the next couple of weeks and then we will switch to playing more tennis. We want him to be fresh so that he’s able to play training matches at the end of the period and so that he’s ready to compete at the end of the pre-season.
Cameron Norrie (CN): Ordinarily at this time we would be expecting to do more fitness work. But this year is a little bit unique with a focus on actually playing tennis. Saying that, we’ve had a pretty big day today. We got here before 9am and we’re still here at 5pm. We’ve done speedwork, shoulder strengthening testing and an hour or so of tennis. We’ve also done a gym session and some yoga and mobility work.
MF: What cardio elements do you include in your training regimen? And what sessions do you like doing?
CN: I really like running! But to be honest we haven’t focused much on cardio. I’m quite fortunate that I have a strong cardio base. We did a 30:15 bleep test which is a measure of maximum aerobic speed. But we are focusing more on strength and power.
JV: To maximise time, we’re doing a lot of tennis and cardio together. So we’re scheduling sessions where we’re hitting and running at the same time.
MF: With regards to the injury, does this mean you’ve spent more time in the gym and on rehab work?
CN: For the first two-and-a-half weeks we were just doing strength exercises on the injury [bicep] and some rehab work on my knee. Only after the basic stuff, we started counting forehand hitting – so on the first day I hit 60 forehands and then progressed from there, adding volume.
MF: Do you sit down at the start of the year and plan your fitness training around your playing schedule? Or is it more free-flowing than that?
CM: We will sit down and plan where we’d like play and when we’d like to complete some fitness blocks to target particular tournaments. But I think it’s always tough because you never know where you’re going to play deep into a tournament. We’re constantly having to adapt our schedules and our fitness training to reflect this. We try to plan as best as we can – but you have to be ready for all types of scenarios.
MF: Is it possible to ‘peak’ in tennis in terms of performance when you’re playing so many tournaments each year? Or are there natural highs and lows?
CN: It’s simply not possible. Of course, we try our best but it’s tough to find the right balance between playing enough matches and making sure you’re match fit to play well in the biggest tournaments. Naturally, it’s difficult because you’re playing against someone else and they might have hit their peak on that day better than you. I’m the kind of player who wants to play matches in order to feel ‘match fit’ and to gain momentum and confidence to keep winning.
This year, we tried to rest to be ready for the big tournaments. But you can play a top seed and not progress which means playing only a couple of times in a month. When I’m playing well, everything comes automatically and I don’t have to think about what’s going on.
MF: Has your fitness programme changed much over the last five years?
CN: We’ve built a lot in terms of fitness over the last few years. At the start of working with Vaclav, I couldn’t do many of the basic exercises. I was very good at very specific things but not as strong around the corners of the court, for example. We are doing much of the same work now as then, but at a much higher level.
I am much stronger now and therefore able to work at much higher levels of intensity. I’ve come a long way but there is much more I can work on.
JV: When we first started to work together in 2018, Cam was already a great competitor, but he wasn’t strong enough or fast enough. So, we’ve tried to build this over the last six years or so. It’s been a slow burn as these things don’t happen overnight. Once he’d made progress in these areas, we started pushing more, adding in more complex exercises to improve movement and power – skills that he needs for his tennis.
We’re now adapting this as he’s getting older because the previous workload was huge. Now we’re focusing more on isometric exercises which is ideal for force production – but using less energy. This is ideal in terms of preparing for tournaments.
MF: Do you have any other sporting challenges you’d like to address once you’ve finished playing tennis?
CN: I’m pretty competitive at everything but I’d like to run or do triathlon. I like playing golf but I’m not that good; the same goes for surfing. But I’d really like to do a triathlon.
MF: Who do you think is the GOAT in tennis?
CN: In terms of watching, I loved seeing Marcello Rios play but, in terms of the greatest, you’d have to go with the stats and pick Novak Djokovic. It’s a boring answer but it’s difficult to argue against.
