Cameron Norrie believes his Wimbledon campaign will make him a better player in the long run as it ultimately ended in semi-final disappointment to Novak Djokovic.
The British number one arrived at SW19 having never previously made it past the third round of a Grand Slam but that’s a record he’s now firmly improved on, finally producing the kind of major run his world ranking of 12 deserves.
He was bidding to become just the second British man, along with Andy Murray, to reach a Wimbledon singles final in the Open Era and made a flying start on Centre Court as he took the opening set against the six-time champion.
But Djokovic swiftly hit his stride from that point onwards as he sealed a 2-6 6-2 6-4 6-4 victory to reach a record 32nd Grand Slam final. Norrie intends to reach his first in the near future.
“Loved it, loved every moment of it,” Norrie said after the defeat.
“I think I need to keep working hard and still got a lot of things I can improve on my game. Yeah, great experience. I can take a lot of confidence from it. To reach the semis, reach the Friday of the second week, is pretty sick.
“But I think for me, I want to go more and I want to do more of that and go one further and try to win a Slam. A lot of firsts for me this week, a lot of good experiences. Hopefully I can take them in my stride.
“I think looking, comparing to Novak, I think it was just the level of execution from him today was better than me.”
Norrie entered the tournament largely in the shadow of Murray and Emma Raducanu in the mind of the casual British tennis fan, despite his impressive performances over the past 12 months.
He can expect to be receive more attention, and face more expectation, when he arrives at Wimbledon in the years ahead, and the 26-year-old has relished the home support he’s been given.
“I think it’s probably the first time in this country, here and around Wimbledon, that I think people have gotten to know me a little bit more and the way I play, the way I operate on the court,” Norrie said.
“It’s given a lot of people something to cheer about. They love that. It’s been a pretty crazy fortnight for me. it’s been a lot of fun.”
