Who is Cameron Norrie? How British tennis ace won Indian Wells final 2021, ATP ranking and where he was born

Cameron Norrie became the first Briton to win at the Indian Wells BNP Paribas Open after beating Nikoloz Basilashvili 3-6 6-4 6-1.

The 26-year-old from London took one of the most surprising Masters 1000 triumphs in recent history by defeating the Georgian Basilashvili and becoming a new winner of the Indian Wells Tournament.

Who is Cameron Norrie?

Norrie is a 26-year-old British tennis player who attended Texas Christian University before deciding to turn professional in 2017.

Cameron Norrie was born in Johannesburg to British parents who then moved to Auckland, New Zealand when Norrie was 3 years old.

At the age of 16, Norrie moved to London where he lived for three years before attending University in Fort Worth.

After ending his studies at TCU he turned professional during the grass court season of the 2017 ATP Tour and is now based in Putney, London.

He now has two ATP Tour singles, and one doubles titles, three Challenger singles titles and three Futures singles titles to his name.

What is Cameron Norrie’s new ATP ranking after Indian Wells 2021?

Cameron Norrie has now reached a career high world ranking after climbing from number 26 to take the number 15 spot.

Norrie started the year as world number 74 but has quickly risen due to his phenomenal success reaching six finals and finally taking the win at Indian Wells.

Not only has Norrie reached a new career high in the world rankings but his win on Monday 18 October 2021 has also meant he is now the new male British number one, taking the spot from Daniel Evans.

How did Cameron Norrie reach the Indian Wells 2021 final?

Cameron Norrie entered the Indian Wells competition in the second round on Saturday 9 October 2021 and went on to beat his first opponent, Tennys Sadngren, 6-4 5-7 6-0.

The Briton went on to beat Roberto Bautista Agut in the third round 6-4 5-7 6-3 before facing Tommy Paul in round four. Norrie beat the American 6-4 4-6 6-2 leading him to the quarter-finals.

Diego Schwartzman awaited Norrie in the last eight of the competition but was easily defeated by the Brit 6-0 6-2.

The Semi-finals were played on Saturday 16 October 2021 and Norrie played Grigor Dimitrov who had previously knocked out the number one seed Daniil Medvedev. Norrie comfortably won 6-2 6-4 and made his way to his sixth final of the year.

What happened at the Indian Wells 2021 final?

Cameron Norrie fought back from a set down to win what is often dubbed as the “fifth Grand Slam” 3-6 6-4 6-1 and became the first British player to reach the final at one of the ATP’s nine Masters 1000 events since Andy Murray won the French Open in 2016.

Despite taking an early 3-1 lead in the first set, Norrie began to wane when Basilashvili slowly found his momentum. The Georgian took the next five consecutive games winning the first set 3-6 and went on to lead the second 2-1.

Basilashvili slowly began to make more unforced errors as Norrie kept drawing the players into lengthy cross-court rallies. Norrie broke back and took a 3-2 lead in the second set as his confidence returned during his service games.

At 5-4 in the second set, Norrie executed a drop shot before finishing the long point with a volley winner and then drilled a thrilling down-the-line backhand passing shot winner to take the second set on Basilashvili’s serve.

Norrie refused to relinquish any power or control he had gained from the final games in the second set and went on to take the third and final set with relative ease, only striking one unforced error in the first three games.

What did Cameron Norrie say after his win at Indian Wells 2021?

Speaking to the press after the match, Cameron Norrie said “I’ve really been enjoying my tennis and really been enjoying being out on court and competing in the big moments.

“I’m just really pleased with how I handled the occasion and I think I’m doing that alot this year. I know I lost in a lot of finals so it’s nice to get the big one today.

“I still don’t really know what I’m experiencing. It was an amazing couple of weeks and I’m so happy with how I treated all the occasions, all the big moments, all the matches. I’m so happy, so pleased to win my biggest title.”

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