Nomad Norrie has some good friends to lean on before Wimbledon debut
BORN in South Africa, raised in New Zealand by a Scottish father and Welsh mother, now living in the USA — it has been an unusual journey to Wimbledon for one young British tennis star.
Cameron Norrie is a 21-year-old student who has halted his sociology studies at Texas Christian University to try for a tennis career.
He only turned professional at the start of June.
Now, Norrie is set to rub shoulders with Andy Murray, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal at SW19, where he will face JoWilfried Tsonga in the first round tomorrow. So far, so good.
‘I was told I had a wild card just after I lost to Sam Querrey at Queen’s, so that made me feel a bit better,’ says Norrie, smiling.
‘I’ve put in so much hard work over the last couple of years at college. I didn’t waste a practice session.’
It has paid off. In his first month as a pro, Norrie beat world No74 Malek Jaziri at Surbiton, then world No 49 Horacio Zeballos at Eastbourne.
Last week he was invited to practise with Murray on the grass of Wimbledon as Ivan Lendl watched on.
‘He brings so much intensity,’ says Norrie. ‘He’s such a great role model and practising with him... he’s at such a high level that it rubs off on you.
‘I was talking to Lendl a little bit more than him. He [Murray] wasn’t really too interested
in college tennis.
‘Lendl knew someone from TCU and he had some fairly good stories about that guy...’
Norrie, the world No 236, aims to get into the top 50 and then go from there. That would be the reward at the end of a long road.
Norrie got into tennis by playing squash with his parents on their driveway in New Zealand, which perhaps explains his preference for outdoor hard courts.
At the age of 16 he realised he had talent and travelled to London at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton. The teenager found the experience of living on his own overwhelming.
‘It was just too much for me to take on board,’ he says.
‘It was really tough to leave my family. Everything was about tennis and I wasn’t used to that.
‘That was one of the reasons why I went to college in Texas — to have a more balanced lifestyle and a normal life.
‘In America it is four years to graduate. I did three years but I’ve put it on hold.’ So if he succeeds at tennis, will he forget about going back for that final year?
‘No matter how well I do, I want to graduate at some point,’ he said. ‘I’m just going to play and do a couple of classes online.’
As always in cases such as Norrie’s, given his unusual upbringing, there will be a question of what qualifies him as British.
‘Both my parents are British,’ Norrie says. ‘My dad is Scottish and has a filthy Scottish accent. My mum was born in Wales. All my mum’s side and my dad’s side are Welsh and Scottish.
‘I still have family in Scotland. My roots feel British. I was born in South Africa, brought up in New Zealand, then lived here for three years in London.’
Amid all the anticipation of Murray attempting to win Wimbledon a third time, it is another Brit with a Scottish name who is aiming to steal some of the limelight.