Norrie advances into Wimbledon last 64 but warns rivals: my best is yet to come

Cameron Norrie continued his red-hot form in 2021 by beating Frenchman Lucas Pouille at Wimbledon - but revealed his best tennis is yet to come, writes Josh Graham.

London-based Norrie is the first graduate from the LTA’s Pro Scholarship Programme, which provides world-class coaching, medical and financial support to Britain’s elite young players with the potential to reach the top 100 within five years.

The 25-year-old lost a first-set tie-break on Monday night before returning on Tuesday to win 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-2, 7-5 and book his place in the second round against Australian Alex Bolt.

Norrie recorded his 30th win of the year but just his second ever victory at SW19 and said: “I really feel that I haven't shown my best tennis. I think I've worked my way into the tournament. I've improved set by set today and yesterday.

“I think today that was a good example of winning a lot this year, having a lot of confidence, getting through a lot of tough matches.

“It was nice to sneak through and play the bigger points better. I thought I competed well.

“I'm just taking it match by match and point by point. It was definitely not easy to get through that one.”

Norrie set aside his anger at ‘donating’ the first set to his opponent to rattle off three on the bounce on Court 2, even coming from 4-2 down in the final set in front of a vocal home crowd.

“I think a little bit yesterday I wasn't that calm,” said the No.29 seed.

“I completely donated the set, [I had] a couple of set points, I threw in a couple of double-faults.

“Today I made a conscious decision to be a little bit more calm on the court, really enjoy it out there.

“I think it comes with winning a lot of matches, a lot of tight matches, just putting yourself in those scenarios.

“I think with the way I play, I'm not going to go out and hit someone off the court or serve someone off the court.

“I need to keep continuously applying pressure, keep putting people in awkward situations.”

Norrie is excelling on the grass after reaching the final at Queen’s and credits his form to doing the basics well.

“There’s a couple of things I’m doing a lot better than in the past: the serve and the return,” added the British No.2.

“I think I'm just doing those two fundamentals very well. Putting a lot of pressure on the server, making a lot of returns in the court.

“I think I've been doing well on second-serve returns throughout the whole year.”

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