How ‘s***house’ Cam Norrie can beat Carlos Alcaraz: Last Brit standing is Wimbledon’s big wind-up merchant… even if Tim Henman’s writing him off

As Nicolas Jarry confronted Cam Norrie at the end of their third-round match, complaining about excessive ball bouncing and over-celebrating, a realisation began to dawn: is the last Brit standing at Wimbledon a s***house?

Not in the sense that he is a wrong ’un — salt of the earth is our Cam — but in the footballing sense. You know the type: niggly, scrappy, in the opposition’s face, a master of staying just the right side of the rules — often a yellow card but never a red.

It is the kind of player we always feel we are lacking at major football tournaments, but maybe we have one here at Wimbledon.

Certainly, every trick in the book will be required this afternoon if the British No 3 is to take down Carlos Alcaraz and reach a second Wimbledon semi-final.

Norrie is the mildest of men off the court but a whirlwind of competitive energy on it. He is a vociferous celebrator of even the most inconsequential points — in a variety of languages. 

His most common roar is ‘vamos’ rather than ‘C’mon’ and that can wind up hispanic opponents, such as the Chilean Jarry.

Last year in Metz, Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena rowed with Norrie after the match. ‘Apparently he was not happy with me saying “vamos” a couple of times,’ said Norrie, whose coach of almost a decade is Argentine.

Norrie also blasted the ball straight at Jarry a few times — an echo of the occasion in Rome in 2023 when he hit Novak Djokovic on the leg with a smash.

‘He’s allowed to hit a player and say “C’mon” in the face more or less every single point,’ said the Serb at the time. ‘But we know in the locker room it’s not how we treat each other. He’s a very nice guy off the court so I don’t understand this attitude on the court.’

Norrie defended his on-court persona after the Jarry win. ‘We’re competing for our livelihoods out there,’ said the 29-year-old. ‘I want to compete as hard as I can, I’m not going to roll over.’

On the issue of over-celebrating, he added: ‘I’m doing it for myself, I’m not doing it to make someone feel bad. If they take it personally, it’s nothing to do with me.

‘A couple of people have not been too happy with that but I’m just aiming it at my team and friends and people in the crowd.

‘Against Jarry, some of the points are maybe not worthy of saying “vamos” but it was a match I really had to do that, because those points that don’t mean a lot, if you lose those ones, you can get broken and the match can go away from you very quickly.

‘I wanted to enjoy all aspects of the match. If I won a good point or a bad point, serve on the line, good volley, drop shot, I wanted to celebrate everything.’

He may not have quite as many points to celebrate today. Alcaraz is the two-time defending champion here and won the Queen’s title last month. The 22-year-old’s career grass-court win percentage of 91.7 per cent is the highest in the Open era.

Even Tim Henman, usually a bastion of positivity where his countrymen and women are concerned, was unable to summon much hope. Asked if the Brit could take down the five-time Grand Slam champion, he said: ‘If they played 100 times, can Norrie win one? Maybe.’

I am inclined to be a little more bullish. Norrie has won two of his last three meetings with Alcaraz, who said on Sunday: ‘Facing Cam is always really difficult. We have had some battles. For me facing him is almost a nightmare. I’m not surprised he is playing great here: when he lost at Queen’s he stayed for five days practising morning, afternoon and night.’

Alcaraz is unlikely to be rattled by cries of vamos but the consistency, passivity and lack of pace of Norrie’s game could destabilise him. Alcaraz likes to play fast and hard and if rallies are not exciting enough he is prone to over-elaboration. Norrie can pray on Alcaraz’s patience; bore him into recklessness.

If Norrie does spring the upset, Alcaraz will only have himself to blame. Norrie came into this tournament refreshed after a holiday in Ibiza — he was inspired by the Alcaraz formula which has so far never failed to result in a Wimbledon title.

‘A lot of players have told me about going to Ibiza,’ laughed Alcaraz. ‘I’m going to ask Ibiza to pay me a little bit from that!’