Norrie disappointed to miss out on Wimbledon doubles record
After being knocked out in the second round of the men’s doubles on Friday, Cameron Norrie’s biggest disappointment was falling short of a Wimbledon record.
The British player and countryman Jay Clarke came up short in a three-day, 87-game, five-hour, two-minute firstround marathon against Hans Podlipnik-Castillo of Chile and his Argentine partner Marcelo Arevalo.
The 6-4, 6-7 (5), 5-7, 6-4, 22-20 scoreline left the match tied for the fifth-most games in men’s doubles at Wimbledon, 15 short of the 102 played when Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa defeated Kevin Ullyett and Paul Hanley 28-26 in the fifth set of their second-round encounter in 2007.
Norrie, ranked 75 in singles, doesn’t take doubles “too seriously”, but was down after being told how close they had come to topping the longmatch list.
“It’s tough we just missed the record,” he said.
Having started on Wednesday evening, the match resumed late on Thursday and was suspended once more with Norrie and Clarke leading 4-3 in the fourth set.
“I thought it was pretty poor scheduling,” said Norrie, who felt the match should have resumed earlier on Thursday.
Melo was also in men’s doubles action on Friday, as he and Lukasz Kubot made a second-round exit.
The Brazilian was happy to have held on to his record.
“Only at Wimbledon can this happen,” said Melo, referencing the fact the other three Grand Slams have made men’s doubles best of three sets.
“That’s why I love to play here.”