Cameron Norrie

Cameron Norrie is a professional tennis player representing Great Britain, even though he was born in South Africa.

Cameron Norrie was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, on August 23, 1995, to British microbiologists. His father, David, is from Glasgow, Scotland, while his mother, Helen, hails from Cardiff, Wales.

Norrie and his family relocated to Auckland, New Zealand when he was only three years old. Norrie’s love affair with tennis began at the age of four when he played the sport with a cut-down squash racket on a replica tennis court next to his new home in New Zealand.

His parents quickly noticed that their left-handed son was vested with tennis talent and helped to finance his travel overseas. Having represented New Zealand as a junior (attained a career-high ranking of No. 10), Norrie did not receive significant financial support from them and had to travel to his parents’ homeland in the United Kingdom when he was only 16.

His parents still maintain permanent residency in New Zealand and live there. Norrie switched his allegiance to Great Britain at 17 in 2013, where he trained at the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) in London.

After three years, he received a scholarship to pursue college studies in Texas, USA, while at the same time fulfilling his dream of becoming a tennis player. In 2017, Norrie put a hold on his studies to turn professional.

He received a wild card to play his first ATP main draw match at Queen’s Club, where he lost to Sam Querrey in the first round. His first ATP match win came just a week later, with a wild card, he defeated Horacio Zeballos at the Eastbourne International.

Given his strong performances on the Challenger circuit and showing genuine promise of his potential, he was awarded a wild card at the 2017 Wimbledon, which was his first taste of Grand Slam main draw action.

He lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first round. Norrie’s first Grand Slam main draw win came at the 2017 US Open, where he earned a retirement win over Dmitry Tursunov in the first round. Norrie won three ATP Challenger titles in the second half of the 2017 season, finishing the year with a personal-best ranking of 114.

In 2018, Norrie made his Top 100 debut, reaching three semifinals on the ATP Tour. He also won his first Tour-level doubles title that year in Estoril alongside fellow Brit Kyle Edmund. Norrie made his Top 50 debut in 2019, the same year he reached his first ATP Tour final in singles at the ASB Classic in Auckland but lost to Tennys Sandgren.

Norrie’s first ATP title came in 2021 when he won the ATP 250 event in Los Cabos. A couple of months later, he added a second title and the biggest of his career at the Indian Wells Masters (which was moved to October due to the coronavirus pandemic).

Norrie broke the world’s Top 20 for the first time and held the distinction of British No. 1 at the end of the week in California. In 2022, Norrie won his first clay court title in Lyon.

He also reached his first Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon, losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic. Norrie clinched the second-biggest ATP title of his career at the 2023 Rio Open, where he defeated Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz in a breathtaking final in three sets.