Cameron Norrie is a name that is very well known when talking about British tennis, but has never quite become a household name in the United Kingdom.
Currently Great Britain’s third-ranked male singles player, 87th globally, Norrie has arguably experienced more significant rises and falls than any other British men’s player in the last five years.
So who is Cam Norrie and what does the future look like for Britain’s former number one?
Where does Cam Norrie come from?
In previous decades, Britain has had a bit of notoriety for having some of its most successful players born outside of Great Britain. Greg Rusedski was born in Montreal, Johanna Konta is from Australia, and more recently, Emma Raducanu, born in Toronto but moved to the UK as a two-year-old.
Cam Norrie follows this stigma, being born in South Africa before moving to New Zealand at a young age. In Auckland, Cameron began learning his craft, being taught the foundations of the sport by his mother in the driveway as a child.
Despite his South African birth and upbringing in New Zealand, both of his parents are British. Norrie moved to the United Kingdom in 2011, when he was 16, and started representing his parents’ nation in 2013. He went on to gain a scholarship to study at Texas Christian University and would become the highest-ranked male college tennis player in the US.
In 2017, Cam Norrie turned pro, fully focusing his attention towards his tennis career. Despite living in four different countries by the age of 19, his country-hopping had only just begun as he entered the ATP World Tour.
The ITF and ATP Challenger Tours
Despite turning pro in 2017, Cam Norrie made his debut in 2013. He returned home to Auckland for this competition, beating Carlos Erlocq, who ranked 37th in the world just the year before. Following a second qualifying round exit, Norrie earned his first few ranking points and started his journey on becoming a top 1000 ATP player.
He would achieve this feat at the Canada F6 Futures in Winnipeg, an M15 event where he would reach the semi-finals by winning three senior matches back to back for the first time in his career, including an opening round win against the current ATP No. 2 Alexander Zverev.
Over the next few years, Norrie would slowly etch his name higher and higher in the ranking charts. His first senior tournament arrived in 2015, winning the USA F29 in Mansfield, Texas. The following year, he added two more USA Futures ITF titles to his portfolio, and reached his first ATP Challenger final, losing to Dan Evans in the final but gaining 60 ranking points to raise him to a career high rank of 296.
In 2017, Norrie started to focus more heavily on the ATP Challenger tour. This year would bring many firsts for the young Brit, including a first Challenger title, an ATP Tour main draw debut, an ATP Tour maiden win, and perhaps most significantly, a Wimbledon debut where Norrie would exit in the opening round to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Cam Norrie would earn more ATP Challenger titles in 2017, where he would end the year ranked 110th in the world.
Cam Norrie on the ATP Tour
The ATP Tour of 2018 would be the first time Cameron fully focused on the highest level of men’s tennis. In May, Norrie would reach his first ATP 250 semi-final while beating a top 10 player for the first time.
His success at Lyon would leave Norrie in the top 100 for the first time, and would follow the competition, his first direct entry at Roland-Garros. A well-deserved victory over Peter Gojowczyk, who retired from the match after being two sets down, meant that Norrie was ranked 79th at the start of June.
Norrie reached two ATP 250 quarterfinals and two more semi-finals before the end of 2018; however, his absence on the ATP Challenger Tour meant that Norrie couldn’t defend his titles and that his rank would drop slightly to 90th at the year’s end.
2019 was much the same for Norrie, with a large amount of success in ATP tournaments without the finishing touch of a title. He returned to the place which gave him his first Tour-level debut, reaching his first ATP 250 final in Auckland but losing 6-4 6-2 to Tennys Sandgren.
The following month, Cam Norrie reached the semi-final of the Mexican Open. As the tournament in Acapulco was an ATP 500 event, it gave Norrie 200 ranking points, more than he had ever gained before at a single tournament.
With a net earning of 341 ranking points, Norrie ranked 49th at the end of February, his first time in the top 50. He reached a season high of 41 in May, following a visit to the third round of the Monte-Carlo Masters 1000.
Norrie ended the year ranked 53rd and still searching for a maiden ATP Tour title. Unfortunately, the COVID pandemic meant that 2020 would also not be the year that the dream became true. He managed to play at a few tournaments at the end of 2020, however, the most success he would find would be reaching the quarterfinals of an ATP 500 event in St Petersburg.
Becoming a top 10 player
The following year was Norrie’s most successful to date. An impressive period in 2021 between May and July saw Norrie reach four finals, including the final of an ATP 500 at the Queen’s Club Championships and defeating a young Jack Draper along the way.
After three losses in finals across two months, Norrie finally got his first ATP 250 title in July, beating Brandon Nakashima in the final of the Los Cabos Open, Mexico.
After reaching the third round at Wimbledon, Norrie would have a quiet few months but would still enter October ranked within the top 30. Opening the month by losing in the final of the San Diego Open, Cam had his eyes set on a greater prize that was held in Indian Wells.
At Indian Wells, he defeated huge names such as Tommy Paul, Grigor Dimitrov, and Diego Schwartzman on his way to the final. A 3-6 6-4 6-1 victory over Nikoloz Basilashvili handed Norrie his first ATP Masters title, as he became the first Brit to win the illustrious tournament.
The 1000 points from Indian Wells contributed to a successful 2021, which left Norrie ranked 12th in the world at the end of the year.
While Norrie has not reached another Master’s final since his victory at Indian Wells, he has still seen some success. In 2022, Norrie returned to defend his title just five months after he claimed victory, as it returned to its usual calendar spot in March.
Reaching the quarterfinals wasn’t quite as impressive as winning the tournament, however, it did provide a boost in points that gave Cam Norrie a career-high rank of 10th. He won two more titles in 2022 and reached the semi-final of Wimbledon, his best ever run in a Grand Slam, making him the world number eight before he lost his Indian Wells ranking points in October, reducing his rank to 14th.
Norrie’s declining form
Since 2022, Norrie has seen less success, with his rank dropping to 87th as of April 2025. His last title came at the start of 2023 at an ATP 500 event in Brazil, and since then, the former British number one has been to just a single ATP Tour final, the Moselle Open, in November 2024.
It is no surprise that Norrie’s form has dipped as he is now 29, which is usually past a player’s prime. It is roughly the same age as Andy Murray in his magnificent 2016 season before he started to suffer from recurring injuries, particularly to his hips.
Cam Norrie, no doubt, has the ability and fitness to add another ATP title to the five he currently possesses. With a good run of form and fitness, a title would almost be expected. However, with the tour looking as strong as it is with young talents such as Jack Draper, Jannik Sinner, and Carlos Alcaraz currently dominating the headlines, it will be extremely tough for Norrie to reclaim his spot as a top 10 player.
Will Cam Norrie win another ATP Tour title in his career? Let us know what you think on X or Bluesky @TheDeckNews. If you enjoyed this article, then you can read our other tennis articles here.