London tennis prodigy Cameron Norrie has been tipped to break into the world’s top 50 by Tim Henman, with the former British No.1 particularly impressed by his work ethic.
Norrie, who once lived and trained at Roehampton’s National Tennis Centre whilst he developed his game, is the current British number two and is steadily climbing up the world rankings, where he’s now at No.79.
The 22-year-old only turned professional in 2017 after becoming the top-ranked male college tennis player in the USA whilst studying sociology at Texas Christian University.
Norrie grabbed headlines by beating highly-rated Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut in the Davis Cup in February, coming back from two sets down, and Henman believes the rising star has a bright future.
“I’ve been incredibly impressed by the way he’s played, his attitude and his work ethic, which is emphasised by his results – he’s a top 100 player now, playing on the main tour,” said Henman, 43.
“He’s got direct acceptance at Wimbledon this year and could have a good run.
“I still think he’s relatively inexperienced at the highest level, he’s not played a full tour for a number of years but I definitely expect him to move into the top 50 at some stage and see how he goes from there.
“I think Cam has done fantastically well having gone through the college system in America, it’s really important for people to understand that everyone’s journey is different.
“Some people will play in Futures then Challengers and then get through onto the main tour.
“Some players will get straight onto the main tour because they’re good enough and other players go through the college system and work their way through a little bit later on.”
Henman was speaking at The Jaguar Championships at David Lloyd Royal Berkshire, a mixed-doubles team tennis event which is in its third year.
One of the goals of The Jaguar Championships is to help boost grassroots participation in British tennis, which Henman believes is as important as seeing more top-level success at Wimbledon.
He added: “In any area, it’s important to have role models, we’re very fortunate to have arguably the best and biggest tennis tournament in the world at Wimbledon but it’s important to have those British storylines to go with it.
“Andy Murray has led that amazingly well for the last decade, he’s obviously had his injury troubles, and Kyle Edmund has stepped up and played some really good tennis this year, top 20 in the world.
“Jo Konta maybe hasn’t played as well as she would have liked, but she’s still a great player with great opportunities coming up.
“It’ll be really good if any of the British players can have a good run over the grass-court season.”
Tim Henman was speaking at The Jaguar Championships as part of Jaguar’s partnership with David Lloyd Clubs. Visit http://www.jaguar.co.uk/jaguar-range/f-pace/index.html to find out more about the F-PACE, the Official Car of The Championships, Wimbledon
