Cameron Norrie can look back on his Wimbledon campaign with a lot of pride but in truth, he couldn’t lay a glove on Carlos Alcaraz.
The Spaniard has won Wimbledon for the last two years and being frank, he’s probably not had an easier match than the quarter-final he had against Norrie.
The Great Britain player has been brilliant in recent weeks, however, knocking out Daniil Medvedev at the French Open and reaching the last eight at Wimbledon.
Norrie concedes that he didn’t cover himself in glory against Alcaraz, citing one glaring mistake that he made against the world number two.
Cameron Norrie shares the mistake he made against Carlos Alcaraz
Norrie will keep climbing the rankings after his Wimbledon exploits and he will now want to finish the year on a high in the United States.
However, he was no match for Alcaraz who, other than a tightly contested first round against Fabio Fognini, hasn’t really been tested yet.
Norrie was quizzed on what went wrong during his match with Alcaraz and if he could have his moment again, he might do something differently.
He said in his press conference: “Going into the match, I knew I had to play well. I think for sure it’s his best surface and the way he manages service games and mixed up his serve was impressive and the different options he has.
“I think some of the longer rallies, maybe, were 50/50, or he was winning most of them. It was difficult to get him off balance and you respect his movement a lot, so you tend to overplay in some moments and I did that slightly on some first balls today.
“He played the match on his terms and it showed in the score and was a really tough match.”
Norrie shares how he was feeling physically after Nicolas Jarry match
In the last 16, Norrie played the Chilean player Jarry and after not taking a match point to win in straight sets he was taken to a five-set classic.
Naturally, playing someone like Alcaraz after a game like that was never going to be easy, but Norrie played down using that as an excuse.
He continued: “I was talking with my team and I said that it would have been nice to win in straight sets and take the match point against Jarry but I think what I had to go through to win that match, I can take so much confidence. It was almost like another pre-season I can add to my repertoire and to my mental game; that’s a huge one.
“Going into today, I was feeling good. I rested yesterday and I think it’s normal. I played four or five sets a few times. It was quite normal to feel a bit fatigued, but I was really up for it and gave it my best. There was no stone unturned I could change.”
Norrie shouldn’t beat himself up too much over this defeat, however, with Alcaraz in formidable form right now.
His ranking will improve after this run and now he will hope to get a good draw ahead of the US Open next month.
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