Why Cameron Norrie’s latest performance may have been his best

ATP Tour

Kevin Palmer
March 15, 2023

Cameron Norrie turned on the style to beat Andrey Rublev at the Indian Wells Masters, with the Brit earning lavish praise for a powerful and thrilling display.

Norrie served up a display of attacking tennis that blew Rublev away, with former British No 1 Annabel Croft suggesting he had “never played better” after his 6-2 6-4 win.

His backhand is often highlighted as a weak spot in his game, but Rublev found no way past it, he offered up very few unforced errors and delivered some brutal forehand winners.

The Wimbledon semi-finalist who won the tournament in 2021 and beat world number two Carlos Alcaraz to secure Rio Open glory last month, will face either American Frances Tiafoe or Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo in the last eight.

In a match which started with three successive service breaks, it was the Briton who took the initiative to race into a 3-1 lead, breaking for a third time to give himself the chance to close out the first set.

Indeed, the world number 12 converted all five of his break points as he completed a victory that squared his ATP Head2Head series against 25-year-old Rublev at 2-2.

“Off the ground, I was rock solid,” Norrie told Amazon Prime, as he made it through to the quarter-finals at Indian Wells for a third consecutive year.

“I really played well in the big moments. Andrey is a tough guy to beat and I’m really pleased with the performance.

“I played one of my worst matches of the year against Andrey at the US Open last year and what he tried against me in that match didn’t work today.

“He was getting a little frustrated and I was pleased to close out the match after he broke me in the second set.

“The ball is slowing up quite a lot here and it is tough to put the ball away. You have to be patient about what ball to go for and it suits my game.”

Norrie is now closing in on a return to the top ten in the ATP rankings after this latest win, with his form in this match suggesting it won’t be long before he gets back into that elite list.

Cameron Norrie