Cameron Norrie (/ˈnɒri/; born 23 August 1995) is a British professional tennis player.[3] He has reached career-high rankings of world No. 8 in singles (on 12 September 2022) and No. 117 in doubles (on 13 June 2022). Norrie has won five ATP Tour singles titles, including a Masters 1000 title at the 2021 Indian Wells Masters, and one doubles title. He was the British No. 1 in men's singles from October 2021 to June 2024.[4]
Born in South Africa, he represented New Zealand, where he grew up, before switching nationality in May 2013.[5] From 2014 to 2017 he studied at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth playing for its Horned Frogs team on the U.S. college tennis circuit. He was based in London from 2018 until 2022 when he moved his main residency to Monaco.[1]
Norrie was born in 1995 in Johannesburg, South Africa, to British microbiologist parents: his father David is from Glasgow and his mother Helen is from Cardiff.[6][7]
In 1998, when Norrie was three, he and his family moved to Auckland, 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."[8] His parents lived in New Zealand until 2023, when they moved back to the United Kingdom.[9][10]
In 2011, at age 16, he moved to his parents' native United Kingdom, where he lived in London for three years before attending Texas Christian University in Fort Worth 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.[11][12]
Since turning professional he has been based in Putney, southwest London (close to Wimbledon).[13] When the Indian Wells Masters was cancelled in March 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic lock-downs, Norrie decided to fly to New Zealand to live with his parents for the rest of the year.[14]
Cameron Norrie is a supporter of South Sydney Rabbitohs, the New Zealand national rugby union team, and Newcastle United F.C..[15][16]
Norrie represented New Zealand as a junior, becoming No. 10 in the world, but received only a few thousand dollars from Tennis NZ, so his parents had to finance his overseas travel.[17] At fifteen, he toured the ITF's European junior circuit for five months.
In April 2013, Norrie switched his allegiance at 17 to Great Britain, the nationality of both his parents,[18] partly due to available funding,[19] spending three years in London by himself. He lived and trained at the National Tennis Centre,[20] later residing with a host family for two years while he continued his training. In 2013, he competed in all the Junior Grand Slams; the Australian Open for New Zealand, then for Great Britain at the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open, but only won one match, in Australia.
Norrie had difficulty on the European tennis circuit, so he considered training at an American university (Intercollegiate Tennis Association).[21]
Norrie studied sociology on a sports scholarship at Texas Christian University (TCU) and joined the Horned Frogs university team, where he became the top-ranked male college tennis player in the US, being the first time that TCU had such an honour.[21] In addition, Norrie was ranked All-American three times.[22][23][24][25]
In the 2016–17 season, Norrie was the only player to win every Big 12 match he participated in, with a 10–0 record in singles and doubles.[21] In spite of being seeded No 1, Norrie missed the end of season NCAA Championships and put a hold on his studies, so that he could turn professional.[26]
In 2018, Norrie won his debut Davis Cup match in Spain against world No. 23 Roberto Bautista Agut, despite only turning professional eight months previously, and last playing on clay in 2013. Norrie, ranked No. 114, came from two sets down, in what former Davis Cup captain John Lloyd said was "one of the most impressive debuts of all time".[27]
In January 2013, Norrie played his first senior tournament at the ATP Auckland Open, winning the first qualifying round.[28] Norrie played three clay-court events in 2013; the Great Britain Futures F9 second round and F11 quarterfinals, followed by the Boy's French Open first round. He didn't play another match on clay until the 2018 Davis Cup against Spain.
Turning 18, Norrie was ranked No. 1348 in August 2013, but a semi-final showing at the Canada Futures F6[29] improved his ranking to No. 973, rising to No. 637 by June 2014. Whilst studying at university, he played only sporadically on the tour, falling to No. 1114 in October 2015. On 11 October 2015, Norrie won the USA Futures F29 at Mansfield, Texas,[30] and became ranked 706.
Back-to-back titles at the USA Futures F21[31] and USA Futures F23[32] pushed him to No. 422 in July. A month later, at the all-British final of the Aptos Challenger,[33] Norrie was beaten by Dan Evans and rose to No. 298.
Norrie played three events in January, reaching the semi-final of the Maui Challenger to become world No 238. For the Davis Cup World Group match against France, Norrie joined the British team as a hitting partner.[34] After completing three years of his four-year university course, Norrie turned professional in June,[35] competing at the Surbiton and Nottingham Challengers, but still had a training base at TCU in Fort Worth.[23]
Norrie made his ATP main-draw debut at the Aegon Championships, after receiving a wild card into the singles main draw, where he was defeated by Sam Querrey in the first round.[36] Norrie earned his first ATP main-draw victory by beating Horacio Zeballos at Eastbourne, which was his first win over a top-50 player.[37]
Awarded a wildcard for Wimbledon, Norrie was beaten by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the 12th seed, in the opening round.[35] In July, Norrie won his first Challenger title at Binghamton, which had previously been won by Kyle Edmund in 2015, and Andy Murray in 2005.[38]
He qualified for the main draw of the US Open, where he progressed to the second round.[39][40]
Reaching the Cary Challenger final, followed by successive Challenger titles in Tiburon[41] and Stockton,[42] pushed Norrie to world No. 111 in October. In December, his Argentine coach Facundo Lugones arranged a four-week training camp in Buenos Aires, where Norrie hit with Juan Martin Del Potro and Diego Schwartzman.[43]
Norrie was seeded sixth in the qualifying draw for the Australian Open, but failed to advance into the main draw, losing to world No. 221 John-Patrick Smith. The following week, seeded fifth, he lost in the first round of the Newport Beach challenger event, losing to Michael Mmoh. In February, Norrie was selected for the Davis Cup team for the first time, for Great Britain's World Group first round match against Spain.[44] He recorded the biggest win of his career in his first match, coming from two sets down to defeat world No. 23 Roberto Bautista-Agut in five sets.[45]
Norrie made his ATP main-draw debut at Delray Beach as a lucky loser. He lost in the first round to Hyeon Chung. He qualified for Acapulco, losing to world No. 6 Dominic Thiem in the first round in three tight sets. He qualified for his ATP World Tour Masters 1000 main-draw debut at the Indian Wells Masters in March 2018, but lost in the first round to Taro Daniel.[46] He qualified for his second successive ATP World Tour Masters 1000 at the 2018 Miami Open, but lost to Nicolás Jarry in the first round.
His next main draw event was the Estoril Open. He lost in the second round to Roberto Carballés Baena. He teamed up with fellow Brit Kyle Edmund in doubles and won his maiden ATP Title, beating Wesley Koolhof and Artem Sitak. The pair did not drop a set the whole tournament.[47] Norrie failed to qualify for the Italian Open, losing in the first round of the qualification draw to Federico Delbonis. At Lyon, he beat his first top 10 opponent, John Isner, and reached his first ATP Semifinal.[48]
At the 2018 French Open Norrie was a direct entrant into a grand slam for the first time. He played Peter Gojowczyk in the opening round, and won after Gojowczyk retired through injury.[49] In the second round he faced Frenchman Lucas Pouille on the Philippe Chatrier court. Norrie eventually lost to the French number one in 5 sets, after darkness interrupted play at the end of the fourth set.
Norrie lost in the first round of the Nottingham Challenger, Queen's Club and Wimbledon. He did reach the quarter finals at Eastbourne, however, despite self-admittedly not being a big fan of the grass surface. After an early exit in 2018 Wimbledon, he won through to reach his second ATP Semifinal in 2018 BB&T Atlanta Open after beating Malek Jaziri, no.6 seed Jérémy Chardy and no. 2 seed Nick Kyrgios. Norrie then lost to Ryan Harrison in three sets, despite winning the first set. A week later he continued his good form on hard courts, by reaching the quarterfinal of 2018 Los Cabos Open.
Norrie received a wildcard into the main draw of the 2019 Auckland Open, in which he beat Benoît Paire, João Sousa, Taylor Fritz and Jan-Lennard Struff to reach his debut ATP final. He lost to Tennys Sandgren in straight sets. In the first round of the 2019 Australian Open, Norrie lost to Taylor Fritz in straight sets. He then entered Acapulco, in which he beat Yoshihito Nishioka, fourth seed Diego Schwartzman and Mackenzie McDonald, reaching his first ATP 500 semi-final. He lost to second seed Alexander Zverev in straight sets. As a result, he reached the top 50 for the first time in his career.
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He reached the third round of an ATP Masters 1000 event for the first time in his career at the 2019 Monte-Carlo Masters singles, where he beat Adrian Mannarino and Márton Fucsovics before he lost to qualifier Lorenzo Sonego. In the first round of the 2019 French Open men's singles, Norrie lost to qualifier Elliot Benchetrit in straight sets. At Wimbledon, Norrie reached the second round, losing to eighth seed Kei Nishikori in straight sets. He again reached the semi-finals in Atlanta, again losing to Fritz, but this time in three sets.
Norrie lost to qualifier Grégoire Barrère in a five-set thriller at the US Open, losing in a tiebreaker in the fifth set. He reached the second round of the 2019 Zhuhai Championships, losing to Gaël Monfils in three sets. As the fourth seeded qualifier, Norrie beat He Yecong and Damir Džumhur to qualify. He reached the second round after Cristian Garín retired trailing one set and 1–0. He lost to Andy Murray in the second round in a highly competitive three-set match, losing 6–1 in the third.
Norrie qualified for the Shanghai Masters after beating Brayden Schnur and Thomas Fabbiano, and beat Gilles Simon to reach the second round, where he lost to third seed Daniil Medvedev in straight sets. At the 2019 European Open, Norrie lost to Feliciano López in straight sets. Norrie qualified for the Paris Masters, but lost to Milos Raonic in straight sets in the first round.
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In the opening round of the 2020 US Open, Norrie upset the fifth seed Diego Schwartzman in a five set marathon.[50] He then defeated Federico Coria before falling in the third round to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, marking his best career result at a major. He matched this performance by reaching the same round at the 2021 Australian Open, where he was defeated by the world No. 2 Rafael Nadal.
Norrie reached his second ATP Tour singles final at the Estoril Open, defeating second seed Christian Garín and sixth seed Marin Čilić before losing to Albert Ramos Viñolas in the final.[51] In May 2021, he achieved his biggest career win by beating world No. 4 Dominic Thiem at the Lyon Open.[52] He continued by reaching the final after defeating eighth seed Karen Khachanov, where he was beaten by second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas. Norrie reached the third round of a major once again at the French Open, where he lost to Rafael Nadal in straight sets. At the Queen's Club Championships, he defeated world No. 24 Aslan Karatsev and Denis Shapovalov to reach the final, where he fell to Matteo Berrettini.[53] With this run, he reached the top 40 in rankings for the first time, becoming the world No. 34. At Wimbledon, Norrie reached the third round of a major yet again, where he was defeated by the sixth seed Roger Federer in four sets.[54]
Norrie won his first ATP title at the Los Cabos Open, beating Brandon Nakashima in the final.[55] As a result, he entered the top 30 in rankings, at world No. 29 on 26 July 2021. In the Atlanta Open, Norrie defeated Nick Kyrgios in the first round before losing in straight sets to Emil Ruusuvuori. Norrie also paired with Taylor Fritz in the doubles, but lost in the first round to Matthew Ebden and John-Patrick Smith.[56] At the