It took five sets, and nearly four hours, but 25-year-old Cameron Norrie scored the first major upset in the men’s draw at the 2020 U.S. Open, taking down Diego Schwartzman, 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 1-6, 5-7. The 9th-ranked Argentine—who was a quarterfinalist in Queens last year—won the first two sets due to Norrie’s sloppy play. But the Brit, ranked No. 76 in the world, wisely changed tactics and started slicing more and coming to net more. The southpaw won the last three sets, including the final four games, in which he staved off two match points.
His personal flag would cover much of the English-speaking world.
Norrie’s father is Scottish and his mother is Welsh, but he was born in South Africa and raised in New Zealand. After showing potential in tennis, he moved to London on his own, declaring himself British to receive more financial support than he would have in New Zealand. Then, he decided to attend college in America.
He may be unknown and unseeded but he does have some pedigree.
Norrie attended Texas Christian University; playing for the Horned Frogs, the lefty was named an All-American three times and was the first TCU player to become America’s top-ranked college player. He has three Challenger singles titles and three Futures singles titles, and has also reached the semi-finals of one ATP 500 tournament.
He has tenacity.
Norrie’s biggest win, prior to today, was his debut Davis Cup match in Spain in 2018—he had turned pro less than a year earlier and had not played on clay in five years, yet Norrie came from two sets down to win against Roberto Bautista-Agut.
Against Schwartzman, he served poorly early on, struggling to win the big points as he frittered away 13 of 15 break opportunities. Realizing that he lacked both the baseline firepower to overwhelm his opponent and the consistency to outlast him toe-to-toe, he started slicing more backhands, throwing in drop shots, and attacking the net whenever the opportunity arose. He threw Schwartzman off balance and easily won the third and fourth sets. Then Schwartzman recovered and, while battered and bruised after a fall, he pushed Norrie to the brink with match points at 5-3 and 5-4 in the final set. But Norrie’s grit pulled him through and he won the last four games to reach the second round for the third time at the U.S. Open.
