Johannesburg-born Cameron Norrie believes “Wimbledon just got real” after booking a quarter-final clash with defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, following a gruelling five-set victory over Chile’s Nicolas Jarry on Sunday.
The 29-year-old British number three outlasted Jarry in a marathon encounter to reach the last eight at SW19 for the second time in his career.
Norrie’s previous best at Wimbledon came in 2022, when he reached the semi-finals – coincidentally, the last time Alcaraz lost a match at the tournament.
Ranking has slipped
Since then, Alcaraz has established himself as one of the sport’s dominant forces, winning two Wimbledon titles, two French Opens, and a US Open, while Norrie’s ranking slipped from world No 8 to as low as 91.
But this fortnight, Norrie is on a resurgence and is on the brink of re-entering the world’s top 50.
Despite his underdog status, the left-hander says he’s ready for the challenge.
“It only gets tougher from now,” Norrie admitted.
“There’s still lots of matches to be played and lots of matches to be won. I’m happy with how I pulled up after the Jarry match – my body feels good, and I’m in a good place.”
Alcaraz wary of ‘nightmare’ Norrie clash
Carlos Alcaraz, 22, hasn’t been at his dominant best in the early rounds, dropping four sets so far, including one to Andrey Rublev in his fourth-round win on Sunday evening.
Nevertheless, the Spanish superstar isn’t taking anything for granted ahead of Tuesday’s encounter.
“Facing Cam is always really, really difficult,” Alcaraz said.
“For me, facing him is almost a nightmare, to be honest. He’s really tough from the baseline, and I’m not surprised he’s in the quarter-finals – he’s playing great tennis.”
Alcaraz also acknowledged the home-court advantage Norrie enjoys, saying he will need to be “really strong mentally” to overcome both his opponent and the partisan British crowd.
Norrie has beaten Alcaraz twice in their careers, including their most recent meeting in the Rio Open final in 2023.
The centre-court showdown between Norrie and Alcaraz is scheduled for Tuesday, 8 July with a place in the Wimbledon semi-finals.
Who is Cameron Norrie?
Cameron Norrie was born on 23 August 1995 in Johannesburg to British microbiologist parents. His father David is Scottish from Glasgow and his mother Helen is Welsh from Cardiff.
In 1998, when Norrie was three, he and his family moved to Auckland in New Zealand, after being victims of a burglary in South Africa.
Norrie said: “I don’t remember too much about it, but my mum told me it got a little bit too dangerous so we moved to New Zealand.”
In 2011, aged 16, he moved to the United Kingdom. He lived in London for three years before attending Texas Christian University in Fort Worth in the United States from 2014 to 2017.
In June 2017, he ended his studies at TCU to turn professional during the grass court season of the 2017 ATP Tour.
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