‘He’s a dog now’ – Cameron Norrie’s coach on his ‘chicken’s’ rise to the top

Facundo Lugones and Cameron Norrie have come a long way since the rookie Argentinian coach guided his ‘chicken’ through the lower rungs of professional tennis.

Lugones and Norrie have worked together ever since meeting through the tennis programme at Texas Christian University, with coach and player learning together.

Now the duo can celebrate a huge milestone as Norrie prepares to take on Novak Djokovic in his first grand slam semi-final at Wimbledon on Friday.

“In Argentina when you’re taking care of someone, you call them your chicken,” said Lugones.

“When I started traveling with him, all my friends would ask me, ‘How is your chicken doing?’ He became a dog now. He’s not a chicken any more.”

Norrie has burst into public consciousness this week but his has been a gradual climb to the top that has gathered pace brilliantly over the last couple of seasons.

The 26-year-old became British number one after winning the big ATP tournament in Indian Wells last October and has maintained his progress this year, breaking into the top 10 for the first time in April.

Norrie’s key weapon is not his serve or groundstrokes but his stamina, which came into play again as he recovered from a poor start to defeat David Goffin in five sets in the quarter-finals.

“He does a lot of fitness, probably more than anyone,” said Lugones. “I don’t even know how much other players do, but it would be hard to beat how many hours Cam does, especially when he’s fitness training with Vasek (Jursik).

“They do some really intense conditioning sessions on the court where he stays in that red zone where the heartbeat is just insane. That’s why in the fifth set he looked actually more comfortable than at the beginning of the match.”

Lugones revealed Norrie