Cameron Norrie has warned his growing fanbase that he faces one of the toughest tasks in tennis in toppling Novak Djokovic on Centre Court today.
Djokovic is a six-time Wimbledon champion and has not lost at the tournament since 2017 when he was carrying an elbow injury.
This is Norrie’s first Grand Slam appearance while, in contrast, Djokovic is playing in the last four of one of the majors for a 43rd time in his illustrious career.
And in his quest to reach the final of his home Grand Slam, Norrie told Standard Sport: “I think it’s one of the toughest tasks in tennis, especially with the way he’s playing right now.
“And particularly in the last round he came back from two sets to love down and you’ve got to take a lot of confidence from his point of view and I think it’s going to be a really tough one, but I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
Djokovic had been facing a shock exit when he dropped two sets behind to Jannik Sinner on Tuesday night, with the Italian playing some of the best tennis of his career, before the No1 seed hit back to win in five sets and set up only a second career meeting between the pair. Djokovic won their previous encounter in straight sets at last year’s ATP Tour finals.
The Serbian’s coach Goran Ivanisevic said his player had yet again proved it was an error to write him off in the wake of the Sinner match, as he overturned a two-set deficit for the seventh time in his career. His record in five-setters at Wimbledon, meanwhile, is 10-1.
Former champion Ivanisevic said: “You never write Novak off.”
Norrie came through a five-set marathon of his own to beat David Goffin on No1 Court on Tuesday, with a peak audience of 4.5million tuning in.
That number is likely to be eclipsed in Norrie’s bid for a spot in the final where he would face Nick Kyrgios after Rafael Nadal’s late withdrawal with an abdominal injury.
