Cameron Norrie said he will concentrate on preparing for Wimbledon “as best I can” after he suffered an uncomfortable quarter-final exit on Friday.
The British No 1 showed only flashes of his trademark fighting spirit as he lost 6-4, 7-6 to the American Sebastian Korda. Choosing not to compete in the final warm-up tournament in Eastbourne next week, Norrie faces questions over both form and fitness as he attempts to repeat his success in reaching the semi‑finals at the All England Club last year.
“He served and returned really well today and made it difficult for me to find some rhythm,” Norrie said of his opponent, currently 19 places below him in the ATP rankings and a relative novice on grass.
“I think I did well to get myself into the match but I’m pretty disappointed with the way I finished it. In the big moments I haven’t been playing as well as I did earlier in the year. I have to get back to preparing for Wimbledon. I will do my best. I have some time to rest now and prepare as best as I can.”
The match had opened in a flurry, with first Norrie then the 6ft 4in Korda breaking on their first returns of serve. At 2-2 Korda did so again, however, pulling Norrie around the court with pinpoint forehands and forcing him into errors. A second break of serve was sealed by a Norrie double fault. Despite a close contest in terms of points won, Korda held his nerves to take the lead.
The 22-year-old Korda had beaten three Britons already this year and looked ready to claim the scalp of a fourth when he broke easily in the second to lead 3-2. At this point it seemed Norrie was short on both power and ideas, but he managed to do what had thrilled the crowds at Wimbledon last year and found the resilience to break straight back.
It was his most impressive game of the match as he hit a series of backhand winners that had a tempo and range he had previously appeared unable to reach.
Eventually the tie break loomed into view, and when it did again Norrie buckled. He drove a topspin forehand wide to the right on his opening service point. He then missed the baseline twice with forehand and backhand.
Korda raced to a 4-0 lead, and at 5-1 let his serve do the talking to close out the match.
“He served well and took advantage of that,” Norrie said. “I needed to play a few more good points, I needed to tidy up the errors.
“The first point of the tie break the second serve return I missed and with the smaller moments on grass you have to be right there mentally otherwise chances can go quickly.”
Norrie said he felt the five sets of a grand slam match would better suit his game, giving him more scope to build momentum and grind opponents down. But there will be questions over his ability to last the stretch, with the 27-year-old admitting to a continuing injury in his left knee.
Norrie was wearing supporting tape on the joint and said he hoped to have chance to rest it this coming week.
“I think as tennis players we’re always dealing with niggles and I’m doing my best day in day out to deal with that”, he said. “It helps it’s grass [at Wimbledon] as it’s a little bit softer on he knee. I’m going to prepare as well as I can.”
Korda will now play Carlos Alcaraz in Saturday’s semi-final, after the Spanish world No 2 was impressive in victory as he beat Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets 6-4, 6-4.
In the other side of the draw ,Holge Rune beat the Italian Lorenzo Musetti 6-4, 7-5 in an entertaining match equally peppered with mistakes and moments of quality.
The Dane will now face the Australian Alex de Minaur, who ground out a win over the Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 as the Queen’s crowd enjoyed and endured another day of hot sunny weather.
