Norrie’s second Wimbledon quarterfinal shows the spark is back
Cameron Norrie didn’t just survive the first week at Wimbledon 2025—he owned it. The British left-hander ground past Chile’s Nicolas Jarry in a five-set fourth-round scrap, a classic Centre Court kind of match where discipline and legs matter more with every changeover. It was the performance of someone who trusts his patterns again, who knows his game works on grass when the margins get thin.
Jarry brought exactly what you expect from a 6-foot-6 power player: a thumping first serve, heavy forehands, and short points. Norrie handled the storm with calm, leaning on his return position, getting low on the backhand, and using tempo changes to pull rallies longer. When the match flipped into a test of nerve—late in the fourth and deep into the fifth—he played the bigger points with clarity. Not flashy, just smart: more first serves when he needed them, deeper crosscourt backhands, and forehands heavy to Jarry’s feet.
That win put Norrie into his second Wimbledon quarterfinal—his first since 2022, when he pushed through to the semifinals. The context matters. Over the last 18 months he’s had dips in form and confidence, the kind that can warp a player’s identity. Here, he kept the edges sharp: clean footwork on grass, measured risk on the forehand, and the old-school Norrie trait of making opponents hit one extra ball until they break. It looked like a reset, not a fluke.
The quarterfinal against Carlos Alcaraz was a different problem. The former champion compresses time in rallies, and he did it again—taking second serves early, attacking short balls, and mixing in disguise off both wings. Norrie competed, but Alcaraz found the quick-strike patterns that deny rhythm. That’s the gap at the very top: the windows to take control are tiny, and Alcaraz keeps them tiny. Still, for Norrie, getting back to that stage—and feeling comfortable there—matters more than the scoreboard this fortnight.
There’s something else you felt all week: the joy. Norrie has said more than once he’s enjoying his tennis again. It shows in his tempo between points and the way he commits to Plan A under pressure. He didn’t chase low-percentage winners when the rallies tightened. He backed his legs, trusted his backhand, and played the geometry of grass—short angles first, then the line.
What changed—and what it means next
On the surface, the tweaks are simple. Underneath, they’re hard to execute when confidence dips. Norrie has tightened the serve placements, used his lefty patterns to open the ad court, and doubled down on depth. The goal isn’t outright winners; it’s weight of shot that forces shorter replies. That’s where his forehand has looked livelier, especially when he gets it up high to a right-hander’s backhand.
- Serve patterns: more slice wide in the ad court, then punching the backhand up the line to change direction.
- Return position: a half-step closer on second serves, aiming for deep middle to take away angles.
- Rally discipline: fewer low-percentage forehand lines, more crosscourt building until the court opens.
- Physical pacing: better between-point resets in long sets, which mattered against Jarry.
The British crowd fed off it. Norrie’s game isn’t built on highlight-reel winners; it’s built on persistence and good choices. On grass, where timing and balance are everything, that plays. The five-setter against Jarry proved he can still live in these marathon spaces, manage momentum swings, and find solutions when plan A needs a tweak rather than a teardown.
Beating Jarry and earning a quarterfinal shot at Alcaraz should also help his ranking and seeding picture for the rest of the season. It sets up a cleaner runway for the North American hard-court swing, where his low, skidding backhand and higher first-serve percentage translate well. Practically, that means fewer nightmare early-round matchups and a better chance to stack wins.
There’s also a mental dividend. Players talk about “playing free” like it’s a switch you can flip. It’s not. It’s earned through stressful wins, and Norrie banked one of those in the fourth round. That stays with you when the tour moves fast again and first rounds feel like coin flips.
Strip it back and the picture is clear: Norrie’s baseline identity—lefty patterns, court coverage, repeatable depth—still wins on the biggest grass court in the world. The quarterfinal exit to Alcaraz doesn’t dull that shine. If anything, it sharpens the to-do list: protect the second serve a touch more, take the forehand down the line earlier against elite movers, and keep trusting the legs in long rallies. The joy is back, and the game follows when that happens.
