THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 2, 2025

Cameron Norrie

Press Conference

C. NORRIE/F. Tiafoe

4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Cam, give us your thoughts on the match today.

CAMERON NORRIE: It was a very nice win and a high-level match from both of us. I think especially in the first set, I was playing well, serving well. Did nothing wrong, but lost 6-4. Just tried to tell myself to keep doing what I'm doing, not really get too... Don't change too much, hoping his level would drop a little bit. It did ever so slightly. I took my chances when I needed to.

Yeah, I was pretty calm. I was really enjoying my tennis out there. I love that court. The atmosphere was so good. I served well, like I said, throughout the whole match. I think I was very consistent mentally throughout that match.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You just said how much you love that court. You must be one of the few British players here that's got no interest in going on Centre.

CAMERON NORRIE: Not really, to be honest. I would love to play on that Court 1 again. I just really like how the court plays and how my team is kind of on the very corner of the court there. They have a good view. You feel the connection with your team. You can get fired up. Definitely a little bit more loud than the Centre Court.

Obviously it's so special, the Centre Court, as well. I always play well on Court 1, so I would like to stay playing there. A lot of fun today. It was a great atmosphere throughout the whole match.

Q. First time you've beaten a top-20 player here at Wimbledon. Does that sort of win give you belief you can do something similar to what you did in 2022?

CAMERON NORRIE: For sure. Especially with the level I played. I played an unreal match. All around complete. Serving well, moving well, solving the dropshot really well, which in the past I haven't done that well. Hitting the slice well. Coming forward well. Being clinical.

I think it was a very good performance from me. Then mentally, as well. I was very stable throughout the whole match. I think if you spoke to Frances, as well, he would probably say the same. It was a very high-level match. He was playing so well. I never really flinched, just kept doing what I was doing, made the match on my terms.

Yeah, I can take a lot of confidence from that, another match under my belt here, another win. Yeah, to be honest, the win is great, but I was just really enjoying the competitive nature of the match, just problem solving out there, enjoying the tough moments, really getting fired up for the crowd, fired up with myself and my team, as well.

Overall, just really, really enjoyed the match. It was a bit of an icing on the cake to get the win, as well.

Q. How far do you think you can get?

CAMERON NORRIE: That's a good question. If I continue at that level, it will be nice and a lot of fun. Depending on what happens on the other side of the net, I'm just going to take care of my business. It was an amazing win today, but there's still so many good players in the draw. It only gets tougher. I'm going to have to play even tougher to have a chance with my next opponent.

Q. There have been so many upsets. How does that affect your thinking and to what do you attribute it?

CAMERON NORRIE: It doesn't change my thinking at all. It just shows that the level of the unseeded players is so high. I didn't see, like, any seeds playing that badly. I saw a lot of good level from a lot of already I know they're good players. It's amazing to see how much depth there is in our sport, how everyone takes it so professional nowadays, traveling with a fitness trainer, full team.

I think, yeah, I'm not that surprised there's some seeds out. Yeah, there's still so many good players in the draw. For me, it changes absolutely nothing.

Q. You had a forearm injury which kept you out of a lot of tournaments last year. Are you fully healthy?

CAMERON NORRIE: Yes, I am. I never had a serious injury in my career ever since I was young. Never taken a lot of time out of the sport. I think it was really difficult for me to come back from that one. You think you're okay, then kind of self-consciously you are kind of adapting and changing some of your swings. Yeah, just trusting it mentally, I think, was the toughest part because I'd never gone through that before.

Yeah, right now I'm healthy, enjoying my tennis a lot. I think having that injury puts a good perspective on all of us. You take it for granted sometimes when you're healthy and you could maybe be not that happy that you're not winning matches, but at least you're out here competing. So I think it's nice to have those moments.

Even before the match today, I was like, This is such a good experience to go and play Frances. He's one of the best players in the world. On grass, he loves it. It's a huge challenge. I'm very nervous for the match. I'm tight. I'm playing on a court that I like. I think really letting that sit in, knowing that's a great chance, a great opportunity. I love to compete. I'm a really competitive guy. There's no other guy that wants to be doing this other than me. I wanted to enjoy it.

Q. Obviously enjoyment has been a big thing for you recently. The way you've approached your tennis over the past few months, trying to enjoy every aspect of your work, do you consider it a new perspective and looking at things or is it similar to before?

CAMERON NORRIE: Yeah, I think just with injuries and I think if you have the wrong perspective and you kind of are chasing results, you want everything to happen quite quickly, I think, like Dan Evans said the other day, the doubt creeps into your mind and other people start talking. You start thinking do I have the fitness, do I have the level? Like Dan said, it can be scary when you're not winning matches. You can get desperate.

I think it's having a good team around you. I think for me, just knowing that I'm a good player, knowing you have a good level to trust your tennis, and kind of just letting go of the expectations of I should be doing this or I'm hitting the ball so well that I should be winning. Kind of that perspective, just letting all that stuff go.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how you're hitting the ball, doesn't matter how you're doing in practice, whatever, you're just kind of there to accept where you are, where your ranking is, and just why not enjoy it? We're very lucky to play tennis. Just can't control everything. Just control what you can control, and go out there and compete and play point for point, enjoy all of that.

Don't take the competing for granted. Like I said, I was injured and I was not playing. It was tough to watch the US Open last year knowing other players were playing. I was there watching all the matches on my sofa. I would love to be doing that, watching all the seeds lose at US Open, as well. It was like, It would be nice to be playing.

Nice to be back and nice to, like you said, enjoy the tennis, enjoy the moments. I was able to do that today. I went out there with a big smile on my face and let it all in.

Q. When you were in the top 20, did you feel you had this mindset? Sometimes when players are at the most successful, they say they didn't enjoy the moment. Do you feel you approached this thing when you were in the top 20?

CAMERON NORRIE: I think it's a bit different just having more experience. When I was in the top 10 and the top 20, everything was very automatic. I was not thinking. Just very professional. On to the next thing, on to the next thing.

We're enjoying in our own way. We're always enjoying. We're just kind of doing the right things. It was good momentum. We were pushing. I was playing well. We were just focusing all on the positives. It was so good. We were talking about positives the whole time.

I think it's a good thing to go through, being injured, not winning, then having resilience to back yourself. I think, yeah, I'm enjoying my tennis more than ever. It was really nice coming up to get into the top 10. It's just tough, really tough, to stay there obviously. There's a lot of guys coming back.

On the flipside of that, for me now coming into the match today against Frances, being the underdog, play for free, it's a lot easier than in the past when I previously played Frances, I was the highest seeded player, the pressure was on me.

It's nice to hunt the other guys and be on the flipside. Yeah, it's been good fun trying to get back to where I was. Still a long way to go.

Q. In terms of your mentality and perspective change, does this fortnight look any different now to how it did before the injury? Do different things when you go home tonight or very similar?

CAMERON NORRIE: Very similar. We'll go back now, probably play some cards after this, enjoy, yeah, do treatment. Nothing changes. The body is feeling good. We still have the same perspective on everything.

Q. You mentioned the high number of seeds out going to show how tough the competition is. Do you feel it's quite an unpredictable Championships this year?

CAMERON NORRIE: Not really. It's another Wimbledon, another special tournament. Yeah, so many good players. I don't see Daniil or Sascha playing that bad to lose. Some of the other guys, too.

But yeah, I don't see it unpredictable. I was not that surprised with some of the results. It was them playing their best, them taking all their chances. Especially on grass, it's a surface where it can happen very quickly and you don't really have too many chances.

Yeah, I think especially in Roland Garros, there were some upsets, as well, especially in the first three rounds. Not as many as here.