Cameron Norrie backs ‘unreal' Carlos Alcaraz to win Wimbledon again

Independent

a day ago

Cameron Norrie backed Carlos Alcaraz to win a third successive Wimbledon title after British singles hopes were ended in ruthless fashion on Centre Court.
Norrie had hoped to become just the third home player in the open era to defeat a men's title holder in SW19 after Roger Taylor and Tim Henman but succumbed to a 6-2 6-3 6-3 quarter-final defeat in just an hour and 39 minutes.
It was Alcaraz's 19th consecutive win at the All England Club and 23rd in a row overall, and Norrie said: 'It was a good experience to play probably the best player in the world at the moment, most confident player, on his best surface.
'I think he is the favourite, for sure. His level was unreal. I felt like a lot of the time, if I didn't do enough with the ball, he was going to punish me with a lot of his different options, with power. He's got the drop (shot) as well available.
'So I think I was missing a little bit more because I was pressing a bit more than usual, but I think that's credit to him – his physicality, his movement and power.'
It has nevertheless been an excellent fortnight for the 29-year-old, who almost dropped out of the top 100 earlier this season three years after reaching the semi-finals here and has shown he can be a factor again.
Norrie will climb back to around 43 in the rankings following the tournament and, having been out for three months last summer with an arm injury, missing the US Open, he has a good opportunity to make further significant gains.
He was particularly proud of his fourth-round win over Nicolas Jarry, having withstood the Chilean's comeback to triumph in five sets, and he said: 'I think it's all kind of coming together.
'I told you guys that I was hitting the ball well all year. I wanted it to happen. I think actually winning the matches and actually going through these experiences, you can take so much confidence from this.
'I want to just continue to play with confidence. I feel like I've been through a lot of tough moments in this week and a half and a lot of different kind of players and being the favourite, being the underdog in different scenarios. I think I've tested myself in all different aspects of the game, which is huge.
'I really feel like I'm enjoying my tennis a lot. I think that's most important.'
Norrie's progress meant he finally had to move from his favoured Court One on to the main stage, where he had lost four of his five previous matches, including against Alexander Zverev last year and Novak Djokovic in the last four in 2022.
Against Djokovic he had taken the first set to conjure dreams of a home finalist but here, with Lord of the Rings actor Sir Ian McKellen watching from the first row of the Royal Box, the wizardry came from Alcaraz.
Once the Spaniard had saved four break points in the second game, he reeled off five in a row, and Norrie never got close to him again.
Alcaraz served brilliantly whenever his opponent had the sniff of an opportunity and eased through to a semi-final clash with American fifth seed Taylor Fritz on Friday.
The 22-year-old was delighted with his performance, saying: 'Today was a great, great match. I think the best match so far in the tournament. Just really happy to see myself keep going, keep improving after every match, each day.'
Alcaraz now has two days to prepare for his clash with Fritz, but his first priority is to try to set up a round of golf with Spider-Man actor Tom Holland, who was at the All England Club on Tuesday.
'There are some videos of him playing golf,' said Alcaraz. 'I would say he could beat me. But I would love to play against him. For me it would be such an honour. Let's see if he will be available, and we'll tee it up.'