The contrast was stark but it seemed oddly fitting. At the same time Andy Murray was recapturing the hearts of the nation with a gutsy, passion-infused five-set defeat to Stefanos Tsitsipas on Centre Court, Britain’s actual men’s tennis No 1 was enduring a comparatively low-key loss of his own in front of a two-thirds full, slightly muted Court 1.
Forget moving the needle, Cameron Norrie vs Christopher Eubanks didn’t even have a needle, while Murray vs Tsitsipas was breaking the dial.
Those fans that did stick around to watch the entirety of Norrie’s latest Wimbledon contest – rather than joining the exodus at 3-0 in the second set to secure a place on The Hill ahead of Murray coming on to Centre – were treated to a compelling contest.
Having been overpowered in the first set by the gangly, big-serving Eubanks, the Brit hit back to take the second before a let-up in intensity at the start of the third proved costly and left him on the brink at two sets to one down.
He dug deep with a break early in the fourth but Eubanks was relentless in what was the match of his life. He followed his monstrous serve with old-school, grass-court tennis – unafraid to come to the net and slicing his one-handed, slightly Federer-esque backhand. The world No 43 broke back and ground his way to victory in the tiebreak to reach the third round of a grand slam for the first time – a 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-7 (3-7) success for the American underdog that deservedly received a huge standing ovation from the crowd.
Despite this loss, it’s not really Norrie’s on-court ability that causes his issues – he’s a top-10 calibre player who has reached 13 ATP finals over the past two years, a number bettered only by Novak Djokovic.
Cam Norrie slipped to a disappointing defeat on Court 1— (Getty Images)
If you’re being nit-picky, maybe you’d hope for a better conversion rate in those finals (he’s won five of them or 38 per cent) and his grand slam record could absolutely be better, with only two appearances in the second week. However, as a relatively late starter in tennis, the 27-year-old has noticeably improved every year for the past half-decade and is generally on the right track.
The problem is, he is routinely completely overshadowed by his compatriots and hasn’t yet found a way to connect with the British sporting public. A shock defeat for the British No 1 should really be the biggest story of the day at the All England Club but will it even register on most casual viewers’ radars? Almost certainly not.
Slightly cruelly, albeit humorously, during the Australian Open earlier this year, fans chanted “you’re just a s*** Andy Murray” at him. The world rankings and results over the past two years prove this is hardly true on the court but the wider point remains that probably eight or nine out of 10 Brits on the street would recognise Murray but how many could identify Norrie? Zero? Maybe one?
Granted, we haven’t had the best part of 20 years to get to know him, feel his pain and share in his triumphs like we have with Murray and he hasn’t shockingly won a grand slam in the underdog story of the year like Emma Raducanu.
And in some ways, his success on the ATP Tour is almost a millstone around his neck in terms of getting the fans on board. He can’t produce a career-best result in the first week of a slam that captures the imagination like Liam Broady did by beating world No 4 Casper Ruud because, as a relatively high seed, he should be beating the players he faces in the first three rounds.
Yet there also isn’t the expectation that you’re witnessing the first salvos on a run to lifting the trophy in nine days’ time, like you had with Murray or even Tim Henman at his peak, to excite supporters.
All eyes were on Andy Murray’s heartbreaking defeat to Stefanos Tsitsipas rather than Norrie— (Getty Images)
Clearly winning a grand slam would solve that issue but Henman never managed to even reach a major final, yet still captured the interest of the public. His three-day semi-final epic against Goran Ivanisevic in 2001 felt like a cultural event, whereas you’d be forgiven for forgetting that Norrie also made the Wimbledon semi-finals just last year. He even took a set off all-conquering Novak Djokovic in that last-four clash.
Perhaps it’s the fact that as a South African-born, New Zealand-raised, US college-educated man who currently lives in Monaco, Brits don’t feel a real affinity to him? But Norrie has lived in London for large parts of his teenage and adult life, and his parents are British (his father David is from Glasgow and his mother Helen is from Cardiff). Being born or growing up overseas certainly hasn’t stopped numerous cricketers or rugby players such as Ben Stokes, Andrew Strauss or the Vunipola brothers from becoming British sporting icons.
As he exited Court 1 following defeat to Eubanks, Norrie was applauded off. A generous enough reception but it paled in significance to the one Murray received on Centre shortly afterwards and was probably even slightly less effusive than the ovation his likeable American opponent got, having caused the upset thanks to his swashbuckling tennis.
In a recent interview, Norrie stated his goal is to finish this year in the top five in the world and, in October 2021, he told a newspaper he plans to be world No 1 ‘within three years’.
There’s a Murray-esque ambition and elite mentality in those statements but, for now, Britain’s current No 1 seems permanently stuck in the shadow of his more notable predecessor.
