Cameron Norrie, a humble and tireless worker who has emerged this course at age 26, won the second title of his career and did it in a big way, at Indian Wells, the “fifth major”. He had the game very uphill, with a set down and 1-2 with a break against in the second, when the wind appeared and hugged him to come back and win the experienced Nikoloz Basilashvili, 29: 3-6, 6-4 and 6-1 in 1h51. The Georgian did not adapt well to the conditions and fell apart.
In this way, Norrie became the first British winner of a tournament in which Rusedski, Henman and Murray were finalists. “It means a lot to me, I can’t describe it right now, because I hardly believe it. It’s amazing. If they told me before the tournament, I would not have thought about it, ”said Cam, as he is called, who found a prize for his outstanding career in 2021, the year in which he has played six finals, the top of the season tied with Novak Djokovic. He won in Los Cabos and lost in Estoril, Lyon, Queens and San Diego, on every possible surface.
Both players appeared in their first Masters 1,000 final, and both had a ranking higher than 25 (26th and 36th, respectively)., a fact that also happened a few months ago in Miami, when Hurkacz (37th) and Sinner (31st) met with victory for the Pole. So tennis when the battered Big Three does not dominate. It is the curious circumstance that it is the fourth time that a player from outside the top-25 has won Indian Wells, and every time the world number 26 has won. Before they got it with that ranking Jim Courier (1991), Alex Corretja (2000) and Ivan Ljubicic (2010).
Two achievements for the price of one
Norrie manages with his feat to take a good leap in the ranking, and is already the best player in his country, in position 16, ahead of Daniel Evans (23). And at the same time, enter the fight for the ATP Finals. He is tenth in the race, 115 points behind the ninth, Hurkacz, who marks the classification because the eighth, Rafa Nadal, will not play the Masters tournament.
Results, table and calendar.
