Cameron Norrie morphed from helpless chicken to ferocious dog as he aims to sink teeth into Djokovic in Wimbledon semi

CAMERON NORRIE has been transformed from a helpless chicken to a ferocious dog — as he aims to get his teeth into Novak Djokovic tomorrow.

The British No 1’s fitness is a key weapon in trying to topple the defending Wimbledon champion.

Djokovic — bidding to win his 21st Grand Slam — has not been beaten at SW19 since 2017.

But Norrie’s long-term Argentine coach Facundo Lugones claims his ability to push himself to the limits of endurance could give him a fighting chance against the Serb in a blockbuster Centre Court semi-final.

Lugones declared: “In Argentina, when you take care of someone, you call them chicken.

“But he’s not a chicken anymore — now he has become a dog.

“Cameron does a lot of fitness — probably more than anyone. It would be hard to beat the number of hours he does.

“Especially when he is doing some really intense conditioning sessions, he stays in a red zone where the heartbeat is insane.”

Lugones insists Norrie, 26, can stay in that zone for almost ten minutes — with his heart-rate above 200 beats per minute.

The coach added: “He stays in that area for long periods. And yet he is still able to play tennis at a decent level when he’s in that state.

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“A normal person can’t even do a minute and a half of that. They would probably, I don’t know, die. They would certainly be close to passing out.

“That’s why in the fifth set of his quarter-final win over David Goffin he actually looked more comfortable than at the beginning of the match.”

Norrie proved he had the stomach for a fight in that dramatic last-eight victory, in which he finally wore down the Belgian over three hours and 28 minutes.

The ninth seed twice came back from a set down, to become only the fourth British man in the Open era to reach the last four at the All England Club.

He had never made it past the third round of a Grand Slam before.
Norrie teamed up with pal Lugones five years ago at the Texas Christian University.

Norrie is the model pro on and off the court — but there was plenty of partying at college.

Lugones says that his biggest release now is gambling for coffees with members of his team.

He joked: “Cam plays a lot of games with his fitness trainer, Vasek — backgammon, Ludo — always for coffees.

“Cam needs to stay competing all the time, he just can’t unwind from competition.”