Cameron Norrie is hungry to replicate his run to the Wimbledon semi-finals from a year ago.
The 27-year-old made the last four 12 months ago, taking a first set off Novak Djokovic in their semi-final encounter before eventually being outplayed.
Norrie’s build-up has been a little indifferent this time around but he is confident of giving the British public something to cheer about.
“It was great to do that,” he said of last year, “but it’s made me hungrier and I want more and more.
“I didn’t gain from the rankings side of things at all [ranking points were annulled in response to the ban on Russian and Belarusian players]. But it felt good to get through to the second week.”
Norrie had looked good in winning his opening two matches at the French Open against French opponents before coming unstuck against the Italian Lorenzo Musetti. He again won twice at Queen’s before losing out to Sebastian Korda in the quarter-finals.
Last year, despite being British No1 and seeded he came into Wimbledon relatively under the radar. This time, the spotlight is far greater from a public and media perspective.
Of the increased attention, he said: “It’s just what comes with it and it’s great to have that attention. I obviously want to be talking to other people about going deep in tournaments. It’s exactly what I need and where you want to be. I don’t want to be on the flipside of that.
“I think you have to embrace it, you have to enjoy that. I think last year I did a really good job of that, enjoying the matches, enjoying the media. I was loving every moment of it.”
Norrie begins his Wimbledon 2023 bid in the late match on No1 Court against Tomas Machac, a player ranked outside the world’s top 100 making his debut at Wimbledon.
The Briton has described grass as his favourite surface and said missing out on a place in the final last year would only hold him in good stead this year.
He said: “I dropped a little bit and he was all over me. He kept his level very high, mine dropped ever so slightly. You can learn a lot from matches like that and playing with him. He plays at such a high level. A lot of respect for him, especially on this surface. It was a good match to learn from for sure.”
