Left handed. He wears a bandana on his head. He moves fast on the track. He has a great topspin forehand and flat backhand. He is a member of the Top 10. Most would say, based on this description, that we are talking about Rafael Nadal, but this time it is Cameron Norrie.
Last month, after facing countryman Jack Draper at the Miami Open presented by Itaú, he predicted that he would one day break into the Top 10. However, that day has come for him today. Anyone who has followed this 26-year-old player knows that he has become one of the most dangerous rivals.
Just take a look at the players who have been able to with him this season. Two of the four rivals who have beaten Norrie have ended up as champions, and the other two are Carlos Alcaraz and Casper Ruud, the recent finalists at the ATP Masters 1000 in Miami.
The champion at the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com (d. Opelka) in February has shown his ability to overcome adversity. He lost his first match of 2022, saying he played “perhaps the worst match in the last eight months” in the first round of the Australian Open, where he lost to #NextGenATP Sebastian Korda.
These boys with me through the thick and thin. TOP 10 Debut – let’s keep going for more ????⚡️ @licjulianromero @Faculugones #check pic.twitter.com/i06eF3sqAk
— Cameron Norrie (@cam_norrie) April 2, 2022
Nadal already noted Norrie’s enormous progress, after meeting in the final of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presented by HSBC in Acapulco the following week.
“After winning last week in Delray Beach, now being here in the final in a row is difficult,” Nadal said. “You had an incredible season last year, improving a lot in the ranking and your level of tennis.”
Andy Murray, who knows effort, praised Norrie after he claimed his first ATP Masters 1000 title at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells (d. Basilashvili) last October.
“I think he is a great example, not only for British players but for all other players, if you work hard every day and put the right dedication into the sport, with an attitude like his, you can go very far,” he said then. the three-time Grand Slam champion.
In 2021 he managed to appear in finals on hard court, clay and grass, in Europe and North America. Auckland hosted his first final of 2019. He grew up in the iconic New Zealand city, where his first coach Julia Sim made perhaps the first big decision of Norrie’s career: to make him a left-handed player.
As well as being born in Johannesburg and living in London, Norrie is one of the most cosmopolitan players among the 177 who have entered the Top 10. In a sport where acclimatising quickly is vital, his inside story seems to work in his favour.
The return of the Asian tour will give Norrie the opportunity to sign one more final in a new continent. Of course, now is the time for clay, at a time when his career is at the highest point.
