He will face his first Grand Slam quarter-final clash on Tuesday as the last Briton at Wimbledon.
But Cameron Norrie has explained how he only got involved in tennis after a moped accident forced him to change his life.
The 26-year-old, affectionately known as Nozzer, faces Belgian David Goffin, unseeded, on Court One on Tuesday. He is the first Briton to reach the quarter-finals since Sir Andy Murray in 2017.
Born in South Africa to a Scottish father and a Welsh mother, Norrie grew up in New Zealand before going to university in the United States.
At Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth he studied sociology and played tennis for his college team known as The Horned Frogs.
But Norrie revealed he crashed his moped in his sophomore year after “a pretty big night and definitely a couple of masses.”
The British No. 1 needed six stitches in his chin and missed a professional tournament, leaving his college coach furious. But it was the “ton of attention” he needed, Norrie said.
“It was realizing that he wasn’t doing it the way he wanted to and that he wasn’t making the best decisions,” he told reporters Monday. “I was coming out more than I probably should have been, like a typical student from there at TCU, enjoying myself a lot.
“After that, the coaches got me really going and then I was definitely more professional. I grew up a lot after that. From then on I said, ‘Okay, I want to play tennis and commit.’ m with that and do it “.
Cameron Norrie’s girlfriend Louise Jacobi celebrates after her victory in the fourth round. Photography: Kieran Galvin / EPA
He said it was the “turning point” of his career, adding, “In the end it was a positive thing and it definitely got me started.”
He has previously explained how he would have worked in “real estate” if he had not become a tennis player.
Norrie, who does not own a car, was photographed cycling by the SW19 on Monday as she went to the training tracks ahead of her semi-final offer on Tuesday.
He defeated the 30th series leader, Tommy Paul, from the United States, on Sunday, while his girlfriend, Louise Jacobi, founder of a fashion company, watched from the sidelines.
He was also joined by his microbiological parents, Helen and David, who both played college squash and live in Auckland. The couple left Johannesburg with their daughter, Bronwen, and Norrie when she was three, after a “traumatic” robbery at her home.
His mother has previously explained how Norrie started playing tennis with a reused squash racket when he was a small child after introducing him to the sport.
“When Cameron was four or five, we cut out one of my old pumpkin rackets to make it look a bit like a lollipop,” said Helen, 59, who was born in Cardiff.
“We used a big inflatable plastic ball and drew a line on the concrete of the entrance to the net. I kept the marker and just wanted to play all the time.”
Norrie, a Newcastle United fan, moved to London from New Zealand to train full-time at the National Tennis Center in south-west London when he was 16 years old.
The following year he went on to represent the United Kingdom, before leaving for his college years in the United States.
Despite her international upbringing, Norrie says she feels at home in the UK as she urged fans to get behind her as the last Briton at Wimbledon.
The player, who lives in Putney, south-west London, said: “I consider myself British.
“My two parents are British. My mother is Welsh and my father is Scottish, with a rough Scottish accent.”