Don't miss any stories → Follow Tennis View
FollowNorrie Survives Goffin To Reach Wimbledon Semis
Norrie survives Goffin 3-6, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 to reach the semis at Wimbledon
After 3 ½ hours, in front of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Cameron Norrie made history by reaching the semifinals at Wimbledon. He becomes just the fourth British man in the Open Era and first since Andy Murray in 2016, to reach the penultimate round.
Norrie was born in South Africa, raised in New Zealand and since 2013, represents Great Britain. The twenty-six-year-old lefty who played college tennis at TCU and was ranked All-American three times, concluded his studies in June 2017 to turn professional. He broke into the top ten this past April and is currently ranked 12th and seeded 9th.
David Goffin from Belgium reached a career-high ranking of #7 in November 2017 but due to a series of unfortunate injuries, dropped out of the top fifty and is currently ranked #58. The thirty-one-year-old has had a notable comeback, winning on the dirt this past spring in Marrakech. Although he lost his opening round match on grass in Halle to world #1 Daniil Medvedev, he has been exemplary on the lawns of the All England Club taking out the #31 seed and the #23 seed, Francis Tiafoe in five tantalizing sets.
This was their second meeting and first on grass having last played in 2021 on the dirt with Goffin retiring mid-match. Goffin served first and with an ace out wide and a brilliant backhand down the line held to 30 for 1-0.
Norrie made 3/4 first serves and held at love for 1-1 with a crisp crosscourt backhand winner. After an exciting, extended rally of hard-hitting groundstrokes, the Brit reached deuce with a forehand down the line but progressed no further as Goffin held with a fantastic inside-out forehand.
Norrie made 4/5 first serves and held easily to 15 for 2-2 while Goffin, with an extraordinary backhand down the line, held at love for 3-2. The first signs of trouble arose in the sixth game as Norrie donated three consecutive forehand errors and dropped serve when he went wide with another.
The Belgian dictating play off both wings with an aggressive court position consolidated the break at love for 5-2 with his second ace. Norrie faced 0-30 following an amazing forehand down the line pass but held to 30 for 3-5 with two consecutive forehand winners and a whiffed return. Goffin made 4/5 first serves and hit three consecutive forehand winners to clinch the set 6-3.
Norrie served first in the second and struggled as he missed 7/12 first serves. Although he struck his first ace, he faced three deuce and break point yet held when Goffin’s return went wide.
Goffin missed 4/6 first serves including a double fault but continued to take the ball early and extract errors as he held to 30 for 1-1 while Norrie with an overhead smash and a potent serve out wide, held at love for 2-1.
Goffin continued to serve big to extract weak returns he could exploit. The thirty-one-year-old made 5/5 first serves, holding to 15 for 2-2. Norrie opened the fifth with a double fault and faced triple break point and a second deuce following an incredible 28-shot rally won by Goffin with an inside-out forehand volley. Norrie reached game point with a forehand down the line net cord winner and secured it when Goffin overcooked a backhand.
Goffin made 3/4 first serves as he once again held at love for 3-3 with a stunning backhand down the line while Norrie was broken at love following another backhand winner from his opponent. Goffin missed 3/6 first serves and after two forehand errors and a double fault on game point, gave back the break. Norrie level at 4-4 with a partisan crowd urging him on, gifted his second double fault and faced deuce but held for 5-4 with a huge inside-in forehand and serve on the last two points.
Goffin serving to stay in the set, ripped an inside-in forehand and an ace up the tee on the last two points to level at 5-5. Norrie made 2/4 first serves and with a sense of urgency, dictated play as he held at love for 6-5. Once again the Belgian served to stay in the set but this time he faltered, netting a forehand to drop serve and the set 5-7.
The Court 1 crowd was fully engaged as the third set commenced but their charge soon faced 0-40 and dumped serve when he went wide with the crosscourt forehand. Goffin battling Norrie and the crowd, silenced both with a love hold to consolidate the break.
Norrie opened the third game with a double fault and following two forehand errors and an outstanding backhand down the line pass from Goffin, dumped serve for the second time. Goffin continued to serve well, making 4/5, holding easily to 15 for a commanding 4-0 lead.
Norrie upped the ante, making 4/4 first serves including an ace as he held at love to get on the board. Goffin missed 6/8 first serves including a double fault and dumped serve following a winning drop shot and backhand down the line from Norrie.
The Brit missed 3/6 first serves and gave back the break to trail 2-5 following two forehand errors on the last two points. Goffin easily closed out the set 6-2 as it was handed to him by Norrie via four backhand errors.
Norrie served first in the fourth and though he missed 3/6 first serves, held to 30 for 1-0 while Goffin missed 3/5 first serves and held to 15 for 1-1. Norrie served better in the third game, making 5/6 first serves and with two colossal inside-out forehand winners, held to 30 for 2-1.
Goffin faced 15-30 and deuce but held for 2-2 with an overhead smash and a well-struck serve up the tee. Norrie made 5/6 first serves and held to 30 for 3-2 with a formidable one up the tee while Goffin faced break point and deuce yet held for 3-3 with three consecutive winners.
Norrie struck an overhead smash and a sweet forehand drop shot as he held easily to 15 for 4-3 while Goffin faced a world of trouble. The former world #7 faced four deuce and two break points following three forehand errors, the last to dump serve.
Norrie served for the set at 5-3 and after three consecutive missed returns, donated a double fault yet clinched the set with a massive serve up the tee. Goffin served first in the decider and held to 30 for 1-0.
Norrie missed 6/10 first serves and faced two deuce and break point yet held for 1-1 when Goffin missed wide with the inside-out forehand. Goffin did not dwell on his failure to convert the break point. He recommitted and upped the ante as he held at love for 2-1 hitting two consecutive aces down the middle.
Norrie held easily to 15 for 2-2 while Goffin held to 30 for 3-2. Norrie opened the sixth with an ace up the tee and held at love for 3-3 when Goffin’s return went wide. The Belgian hit another backhand down the line and his 6th ace, holding to 15 for 4-3. Norrie opened the 8th with an overhead smash and raced to a 40-0 but lost the next two points before leveling at 4-4 with a forehand put away at the net.
Goffin raced to a 5-4 lead as he once again held at love while Norrie, with a 112mph ace down the middle, held to 15 for 5-5. Goffin committed four consecutive errors-three off the forehand-to drop serve and gift Norrie the chance to serve for the match.
The world #12 reached match point with a 119mph serve up the tee but with an outstanding forehand down the line pass from Goffin, faced deuce. With tension mounting, the British #1 hit a 120mph serve to earn his second match point and closed out the game, set, and match when Goffin netted a backhand.
It was a memorable, high-quality, pressure-filled match with so much at stake. It also was a match where the loser hit more winners (49/38), the same number of unforced errors (46), and six more points!
David Goffin might want to stay off the internet for the time being. The Belgian played a marvelous match hitting the majority of his groundstrokes either on or inside the baseline and finished with 6 aces, 3 double faults, and won 70% of first and 58% of second serve points while converting 5/10 break points.
Norrie’s numbers were good but did not exceed his opponent’s on every metric. The Brit had 5 aces to 4 double faults, won 72% of first and 47% of second serve points while converting 5/8 break points.
Norrie went into the well to pull off a remarkable win to reach the semis for the first time at any grand slam let alone at home. Next up, is former world #1 and six-time Wimbledon champion, Novak Djokovic. The #1 seed leads the head to head 1-0. They met in the round-robin stage at the 2021 Nitto ATP Finals on indoor hard which Djokovic seized 6-2, 6-1.