I ran 5 miles straight after last loss before Wimbledon, says struggling Norrie

A week before Wimbledon, Cameron Norrie found himself tearing along the south coast of England, trying to run the anger of defeat out of himself.

He had just been beaten by Emil Ruusuvuori, ranked 44 below him the world, having failed to take any of seven break point chances.

Norrie screamed and hurled his racket before he shook his Finnish opponent’s hand.

Minutes later, he was on a five-mile run to try and scratch the itch his 95-minute match had not.

Even for Norrie, who ran 10km daily in lockdown, this was surprising.

“It’s not normal but it was a good run. Good views,” Norrie tells i, smiling in his admission it was born of frustration.

Norrie had been simmering for some time. Since the beginning of March, the 28-year-old has only won back-to-back matches twice, dropping to No 42 in the world. This time last year, he was No 13 and has been as high as No 8.

It is to the South African-born Brit’s credit that his post-match trot was the first real sign that his struggle was getting to him.

“It’s obviously been tough and frustrating but it’s not like I’m losing 6-2, 6-2 week in, week out,” Norrie insists.

“It’s been close matches, winning some tough ones, losing some.”

This week he played the Giorgio Armani Classic, a champagne-soaked exhibition in the exclusive surroundings of the Hurlingham Club in central London, in an effort to win a “tough one”.

Typically, he picked a familiar opponent, world No 15 Holger Rune, who he knew would take the match entirely seriously and give him a good challenge.

Rune did, handing Norrie yet another defeat – although there was no run after this one.

Beforehand, Norrie had spent the morning reminiscing. In an effort to rediscover form, he dug out a recording of himself playing Tommy Paul, the American who won Queen’s last week, at Wimbledon 2022. Norrie beat him in straight sets en route to the semi-final.

Why?

“To see what I was doing in bigger points, how I was playing and how calm and composed I looked,” he says.

“It doesn’t seem undoable or tough to do. I know I have it in me. I wasn’t doing much different than I am now. I was trying to tap into that.”

Norrie, who worked his way up to top of the college rankings before methodically doing the same to reach the top 10 in the pro game, says this search for form is a new experience.

“It’s pretty normal to go through this in any athlete’s career,” he adds.

“I think tennis especially you have to be on it week in, week out.

“It’s tough to not get the results but I’m confident that I will come good.”

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For the first time since 2019, Norrie was not seeded at SW19. He was handed a kind fate of facing Argentina’s Facundo Diaz Acosta, with fellow Brit Jack Draper possibly in the second round. If both make it, No 28 seed Draper will be favourite.

“Being not seeded, I can use the underdog mentality I had coming out of college,” says Norrie, who was the star player at Texas Christian University before turning professional.

“I have very, very different expectations coming into this as opposed to last year.”

One thing that will not change is his set-up. His actual home is in Monaco these days, but he still stays in Southfields during the championships, near Wimbledon.

“I’ll probably cycle in,” he says, revealing his American agent has been trying to stop him pedalling to work.

“Maybe I’ll walk. It’s literally just through the park. I just don’t like traffic.”

Tailbacks, losses, whatever they are, Norrie is impatient. He does not want to wait around any more.