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Cam Norrie makes history against old foe Daniil Medvedev as former British No1 stuns 11th seed in five-set first-round French Open thriller
Cam Norrie makes history against old foe Daniil Medvedev as former British No1 stuns 11th seed in five-set first-round French Open thriller

Daily Mail​

time27-05-2025

  • Entertainment
  • Daily Mail​

Cam Norrie makes history against old foe Daniil Medvedev as former British No1 stuns 11th seed in five-set first-round French Open thriller

An inspired Cam Norrie secured his best win for 16 months in the most unlikely fashion, beating his nemesis Daniil Medvedev - the former world No1 - in almost four hours to reach the second round of the French Open. From a British perspective, day three at Roland Garros was all about Jack Draper in the evening slot. But forgotten man Norrie stepped out of the shadows, or rather the morning mist, to record a resounding 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 1-6, 7-5 victory. When Medvedev won sets three and four then broke early in the decider it felt like the No11 seed had the match won. But Norrie broke as Medvedev served for it at 5-4 and then struck on his first match point. Little has gone right for Norrie over the last two years. Once ranked in the world's top 10 he plays as the world No90 here and as a younger, more aggressive generation has risen it felt like Norrie was being left behind. But he has plugged away, showed up week on week and run himself into the ground - at last came a result that made all that worth it, and the normally sanguine Norrie hurled his racket wildly into the air in the abandon of victory. It was his first win against a top 20 player since he beat Casper Ruud, who was also world No11 at the time, at the 2024 Australian Open. Norrie had never won a set against Medvedev in four previous meetings, including as recently as a fortnight ago in Rome. He managed only 19 games across those four matches. All was proceeding as expected as Medvedev took a 5-3 lead in the opening set. But Norrie totally flipped the script by winning the next eight games in a row. Medvedev worked his way into the match and established control until a thrilling denouement. Norrie himself said before the tournament this was a 'really bad' matchup. These two have broadly similar approaches - slug away from the baseline and wait for the opponent to miss - Medvedev just does it better. His serve is far more potent and Norrie's leftie advantage of being able to pepper the opponent's backhand is negated by the fact that is Medvedev's stronger wing. So nothing was in Norrie's favour here. Nothing, that is, except the time of the match. These two opened the schedule on the beautiful Court Simone Mattieu at 11am. Medvedev is not a morning person. Speaking in general about match times before the tournament, he said: 'I prefer to play late. I don't like the early starts because I like to sleep in general.' Norrie, meanwhile, has talked of finding joy in his tennis again. His days as a top 10 player, when he reached the semi-final of Wimbledon, are surely behind him, but he remains a formidable athlete and one of the steadier players around. He has spent much of the last couple of years trying to develop a more offensive gameplan and that came to fruition at last. Norrie hugged the baseline, happy to take the ball on the half-volley rather than retreat. He picked his moments wisely to approach the net or throw in a dropshot. In the end, the battle of two back-foot players was won by the man more willing to take the forward step.

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