If I were to mention the name 'Cameron Norrie' to most tennis fans they'd probably just gaze back at me with a despondent and blank expression. He is an unknown entity to most at this stage in his career and there are many young players that already have a bigger presence than he does on the ATP tour. This merely elucidates his recent achievements (particularly this year) that has seen him rise up the rankings from virtually nowhere (1121) to achieve a current ranking of 73rd in the World.
What's so impressive is how quick Norrie has progressed from the age of 19. Less than three years ago Cameron Norrie wasn't even in the top 1000 players in the men's tennis game and was doing the rounds of the ITF circuit. Fast forward to today and at 22 years of age he is playing on the ATP World Tour stage and taking out opponents in the top 50 of the world. This year he has already beaten:
Roberto Bautista Agut - Ranked 23rd
Robin Hasse - Ranked 43rd
John Isner - Ranked 10th
Jeremy Chardy - Ranked 43rd
Norrie has even managed to claim three challenger titles in a row this year on top of reaching the Semi Final's in both the Atlanta ATP and Lyon ATP. This has truly been a breakthrough year for the South African born Brit.
From South Africa to Britain
There's an interesting connection between South Africa and Britain when it comes to tennis. All the good South African tennis players seem to be born there and move to England where they end up representing Great Britain in tennis. Kyle Edmund was born in South Africa before moving to Britain as a child to begin his tennis training. Cameron Norrie was slightly different, born in South Africa he first represented New Zealand in tennis but realising that his funding was limited there he switched to training in England where he would go on to represent Great Britain. Both of his parents are British too.
Norrie's Style of Play
I really enjoy watching Cameron Norrie play tennis, he has a unique style of play for both his forehand and backhand. His forehand can best be described as the Eagle forehand. This means he has a big take back before dropping his racket low and whipping underneath the ball hitting with a balance of top spin and flat power. He is not quiet as aggressive as Kyle Edmund but has an excellent penetrating forehand but more interesting is the fact that he enjoys regularly coming into the net to finish points off. This is perhaps the best part of his game I like to watch. For a 22 year old to be seen beating top 50 players with plenty of net play is a joy to behold in a new era where too much tennis is being played and won behind the base line.
His backhand has such as short take back that you wouldn't believe it has any effect, yet it does. It is very similarly hit to Nick Kyrgios.
Norrie is a lefty making him trickier to deal with and can really get some width on his serve out to his opponents right receiving end.
His Progress in ATP Los Cabos
Norrie has yet to be truly tested in Los Cabos having defeated the surprise Newport finalist Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-2, 6-2 and then the fading Feliciano Lopez (aged 36 now) in straight sets too. But they always say you can only beat the player in front of you so to be fair Norrie has done well to minimise his time of court by sweeping both players in comfortable fashion allowing him more time to prepare for his harder opponent to come.
Highlights: Norrie Takes Out Kygrios in Atlanta
A Tricky Road to ATP Victory
He faces a much trickier test next in the form of fancy Frenchman Adrian Mannarino. Mannarino is somewhat of a mixed bag (like most french tennis players). He has a good variety of shots in his arsenal and can be very dangerous when he feels like being. He can also suffer major dips in his game meaning a more focused and disciplined player can get the better of him on occasions. Mannarino has a short back swing on both his fore and backhand (the complete opposite to Norrie's forehand but strikingly similar to Norrie's backhand).
He has had a mixed year with his tennis producing some excellent results but also stumbling early on a fair few of the clay tournaments. He is an opponent to be respected on his day having defeated a whole list of big time players this year including Gael Monfils, Milos Raonic, Hyeon Chung, Sam Querrey and Marin Cilic. If Norrie can sweep Mannarino in two sets he will take a big step to getting to his first ATP final in Los Cabos. Still he has a tricky path to navigate with a likely semi final against the talented Fabio Fognini. The experienced Italian has had an excellent year and has claimed two ATP titles already this year. For me Fabio Fognini will be his toughest test yet (not Mannarino).
I'd love to see the youngster get through to his first ever ATP final where he would likely face the daunting task of taking on the hard hitting Argentinian giant Del Potro.
Tempting Odds
Still at 8/1 odds right now to win the tournament bookies have put his odds on par with Fabio Foggini with both joint second favourite. To be compared alongside Fabio Foggini at the age of 22 is saying something about a British tennis player who was ranked over 1000th in the world less than 3 years ago!
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