Cameron Norrie during his quarter-final match against Belgium’s David Goffin
(Picture: Getty Images)Cameron Norrie’s father has said watching the British No1’s dramatic Wimbledon quarter-final win was “torture”.
David Norrie, a microbiologist originally from Glasgow, struggled to sit through the five-set thriller against Belgian David Goffin on Tuesday night.
His wife Helen and the tennis ace’s girlfriend Louise Jacobi, 24, clutched each other in tears at the end of an epic contest on Court One witnessed by Prince William and Kate.
Mr Norrie admitted he could “barely” watch the final stages of the 26-year-old’s match, adding: “The last few points I was going to say, torture but in some ways it was a wonderful experience but it was hard to watch I must say.”
Norrie become only the fourth British man in 50 years to reach the last four at SW19 and will face top seed Novak Djokovic in the semi-final on Friday afternoon.
The star’s father said as someone who plays tennis himself, he’s aware of the “ups and downs”, saying while tennis is a “wonderful game” it can also be “extremely stressful”.
Mr Norrie added: “I think what I have gained over the years is to be able to realise that matches that seem to be slipping away can sometimes change quite quickly and I think that’s what happened last night.”
Asked about how his son will cope with added media pressure, he said: “I think he’s doing fine.“
As anyone who watched the match last night could see the crowd actually lifted him really well when he was down two sets to one so he seems to be coping admirably.”
On his son’s psychological preparation, Mr Norrie revealed his son has an “overall goal to be the best tennis player he can be” and is “pretty well grounded”.
He said: “[Cameron] doesn’t want to limited by saying: ‘Ah I’ll reach Number 10, I’ll reach Number eight’.“
And I think obviously for each of match there’s a plan depending on who he’s playing.”
On what advice he will give his son ahead of facing Djokovic, 35, the defending Wimbledon champion and 20-time Grand Slam winner, Mr Norrie told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he’ll tell him to “embrace the moment”.
He said: “It’s not that often you get to the semi-final of a Grand Slam no matter what level you play.
“So he must try and use the crowd as well as he did last night, I guess.”
Norrie’s father and Helen, from Wales, travelled over from their home in New Zealand to watch their son this summer.
In his post-match press conference, Norrie soaked in the biggest moment of his career and backed himself to defeat Djokovic, telling reporters: “For sure. I think it’s obviously one of the toughest tasks in tennis. It’s going to be tough. I’m looking forward to taking it to him and seeing the level he brings.”
Fan Tracey Zarey, 44, from Eastbourne, in the queue to buy on-the-day tickets today described Norrie as a “really genuine, lovely guy”.
She said: “We saw him on the practice courts and he was lovely. He came over and signed autographs for his fans and was really chatty.
“We did get an autograph and a big smile, he was happy to take selfies with everyone.
“There were so many people, he was trying to get around as many as he could.”
