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Download AudioCameron Norrie may be top of the UK tennis tree now, but his talent was spotted as a teen during his time in Aotearoa.
Tennis maven Dick Garrett remembers taking Mac Herewini, a former All Blacks five-eight and a handy tennis player himself, to an ITF under-18 semifinal in Glen Innes between the top Māori junior at the time, Barrett Franks, and Norrie.
“So we went along and after the first set I said to Mac ‘What do you think of our boy?’ He said ‘yeah, he’s good, but I’m more interested in the other boy,’ meaning Cameron Norrie. ‘How come?’ He said ‘that boy’s going to be a champion. ‘What makes you say that? ‘His leg strength and his balance,” Mr Garrett says.
26-year-old Norrie is ranked at 10 on the world singles list and made the final of last week’s Mexican open to go down in straight sets to Russian Daniil Medvedev.
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