There is no doubt that the crowd will be against Great Britain in their opening tie against Australia at the United Cup on Friday.
Cameron Norrie heads the British team which also includes Katie Boulter, Dan Evans and reigning Wimbledon doubles champion Neal Skupski. Their opening tie in Perth will be against the home favorites in what will be a repeat of their clash 12 months ago at the same event which saw the Brits prevail 3-2 in the group stages.
World No.18 Norrie will get the tie underway against Alex de Minaur who is currently ranked six places higher than him in the ATP rankings. He has beaten him once before at the United Cup but trails their head-to-head 1-2. Nevertheless, Norrie says he is looking forward to his season opener and is ready to embrace the animated Australian crowd.
“I always have tough matches with Alex, we both know each other really well and practise with each other a lot. I’m going to have to run a lot, I think both of us will. It’s going to be a tough one,” he told reporters on Thursday.
“There’s no better way to open up the (season) than to play Australia here at this amazing stadium. It’s great to start the event as a team and we’re all looking forward to taking it to Australia.
“I’m going to have to embrace the crowd and the atmosphere hopefully is going to be good. I played him in Sydney and the crowd was great there too, so I am excited to feel the atmosphere and enjoy the team aspect of it.”
In the women’s match, Boulter faces a potentially tricky showdown against Ajla Tomljanovic whose progress on the Tour in recent months has been hindered by injury setbacks. Tomljanovic has reached the quarter-final stage of a Grand Slam on three separate occasions compared to her British opponent who is yet to progress beyond the third round.
“She’s an incredible player, she’s beaten a lot of highly-ranked players herself,” Boulter said of her upcoming opponent.
“I think I’m going to have to play some very good tennis, especially in front of an Australian crowd. I’m expecting it to be a little bit rowdy out there.
“I’m going to use it, really relish the moment and enjoy it. It’s the start of a new season and I can’t wait to get going.”
Coincidentally Boulter is also the partner of de Minaur who has ruled himself out of playing in the mixed doubles where the two could have possibly played against each other. He said his reason for doing so was because he is not a doubles specialist and doesn’t want to ’embarrass’ himself.
“I think it is a double bluff if I am completely honest,” Boulter said in response to those comments.
“I don’t know who is going to be playing for them. I think we’re going to be prepared for anything and we will see on the day who is better.”
Both teams will also play America later in the tournament which features Jessica Pegula and Taylor Fritz.
