Cam Norrie feeds on Riotous No 1 Court that he calls home to sweep in straight sets along Mattia Bellucci to roar fourth round in Wimbledon

Cam norrie Shook the hand of his overcome enemy and then stuck his index finger, as an exclamation sign to victory, to the surface of No1 Court.

“I love that court, I feel very safe at that court,” said the 29-year-old after beating the Italian world No73 Mattia Bellucci 7-6, 6-4, 6-3 to reach the fourth round eighth victory of nine career visits to the Studio Theater of the All England Club.

‘My favorite part is the atmosphere and the energy. I like to be very close to your team. They are there in the corner and you can pull energy from them.

‘There is a tendency for the crowd to be a little respectful at the center of the court. On the court, Friday afternoon, people had a few drinks, I felt they were coming behind me.

“There were a few difficult moments for me when the crowd was really fired.”

So let’s hope Tim Henman and the rest of WimbledonThe planning committee does the right thing and keep Norrie in situ before his last 16 collision with Chilean qualification Nicolas Jarry. It is not a competition that screams the center of the center, so the British No3 could get his wish.

Cam Norrie Beat World No73 Mattia Bellucci 7-6, 6-4, 6-3 to reach the fourth round of Wimbledon

The British No3 conquered for the eighth time in its nine trips at the NO1 Court in SW19

Norrie’s Last-16 Clash with Chilean qualifying match Nicolas Jarry may be held at the NO1 Court

That Wimbledon’s secondary court is that Norrie’s spiritual house is suitable for a man who played a lot of his career as a second violin, first to Andy Murray and more recently Jack Draper.

He had three years as National No1, from 2021 to 2024, and how much British tennis then needed him. He saw us through the crazy people of Murray’s deterioration and then began to fade when Draper Rose and in our excitement about a new star that we did not mourn him.

He was like the stable boyfriend who helped British tennis due to the rocky years of a messy separation, but now we have a new chic man -cam -camel was welcome to step aside, cam. Not so fast. The man with the posture and silver region of a garden badger is not yet road-kill.

Norrie’s ranking list Nadir opened a week before the French, when he fell at 91 in the world. A bad month or so and he would have stopped from the top 100 for the first time since 2017 and then Evans will testify how difficult it is to claw your way back as soon as the Grand Slam dries up invitations.

But from the mouth of an abyss, Norrie reached the semi -final in Geneva and the fourth round at Roland Garros, and after that he brought back here, he will return to good in the top 50.

An arm injury was partly the fault of Norrie’s struggles last year, but also the growing pins of trying to add more attacking options to his Stockwatche from robust, tireless defense.

“I knew I played well,” said Norrie. ‘But I wanted it to happen now, instead of being patient and earning the results. Once I relaxed and enjoyed my tennis a little more, it all came fairly easily. ‘

Norrie clearly loved Bellucci there. On 5-5 in the first set of tiebreak, he defended deep in the Forehand Hoek and then crossed the basic line to send a Piercing Backhand Pass along the line. That was vintage Norrie Countrepunching, but he also showed some of those more attacking skills and won 15 of the 20 points on the net.

The 29-year-old said he could feel the crowd ‘behind him’ behind ‘when he roared to victory

Next morning/on Sunday is Nicolas Jarry, another who has to claw his way back – in the case of the Chileen, his ranking is not recovered from a 11 -month doping ban in 2020 for contaminated supplements.

A match against the World No143 for a place in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon – a wonderful opportunity for Norrie, but he deserved it, both with the upset of No12 Seed Frances Tiafoe in the second round and that 18 months toil.

Norrie’s last run Here came in 2022, when he lost to Novak Djokovic in the semi -final, and he gets a pleasant feeling from Deja Vu. “The weather was incredible that year, so sunny,” he remembered. “I also played on No1 Court. It was so nice. It feels a bit like that now. ‘