Norrie falls at first hurdle... but has time on his side
HE’S come a long way over the past 14 months, but Cameron Norrie will have to wait a little while longer before he makes a dent in the long and honourable history of the most famous tennis tournament of them all.
This time last year the New Zealand raised left-hander who represents Great Britain courtesy of his Welsh mother and Scottish father came to Wimbledon and was all but blown away in the first round of the men’s singles by the experienced JoWilfried Tsonga.
No shame in that. After all, he had only turned professional a few weeks beforehand.
This week Norrie, now ranked 75 in the world, returned to the All England Club eager to make more of an impression. Unfortunately he ran into Aljaz Bedene, the Slovenian who for two years based himself in the UK and played under the GB flag before switching allegiance again at the end of 2017.
Bedene found it hard to win friends both on and off the court while he was here – cue the inevitable ‘Plastic Brit’ jibes – and his defection back to Slovenia only succeeded in lowering his stock even further.
Out on Court 14 late on Monday evening, in the face of a fiercely proNorrie crowd, Bedene had a point to prove.
And, in a keenly fought contest, he duly did it, edging his opponent out of Wimbledon for another year in a tight four set encounter.
Norrie, however, has a healthy degree of perspective about him. Players play for longer these days, witness a certain Roger Federer still going strong at 36.
There will be other opportunities for the 22-year old. Anyhow, as recently as May 2017 Norrie was still in education, juggling lessons with playing tennis on the American college circuit for Texas Christian University. He knows he has to learn to walk before he can run.
“I think I handled the occasion a lot better than I did last year,” said Norrie. “This year I was a little bit more chilled out. I was a little bit less stressed than I was leading into last year’s tournament.
“It is such a special tournament, especially since I’m living here. It’s a home event for me. I had the crowd on my side. It feels more normal than it did last year.
“I was first on (in 2017) against Tsonga and it was over pretty quickly. It was just a little bit overwhelming. I was playing on a big court, playing Tsonga. But I think I dealt with everything a lot better this time.”
He did, but when your opponent serves as well as Bedene throughout the match, then it’s always going to come down to a few crucial points here and there.
One break of serve settled the first set in Norrie’s favour, while one break in the fourth went Bedene’s way.
Both the second and the third sets ended in tie-breaks, the Slovenian prevailing on each occasion to win 4-6 7-6 7-6 6-4.
“I think I played well, but he just played with more clutch than me in both tie-breaks,” adds Norrie. “He was more aggressive and showed his experience. If I want to be a better player, then I have to be more aggressive.
“He played great in both tiebreaks. I had a couple of chances here and there including one in the fourth set to break early on, and I didn’t take that. He was very, very solid and as I said a little bit more aggressive. Ultimately though, I’m happy. No regrets.”
Despite losing in the singles Norrie will be back on court at Wimbledon either today or tomorrow partnering the promising Derby teenager Jay Clarke in the men’s doubles competition.