Jack Draper has been eliminated from Wimbledon 2024 by Cameron Norrie, who did this to get revenge on the player who took his spot as the British No. 1 last month.
The two had an uncomfortable meeting on Thursday, with Draper acknowledging before to play that Norrie “won’t like” that he had lost his position as the leading British star in June.
Just two years ago, Norrie made it to the Wimbledon semifinals. From October 2021 to June 2024, he was the British No. 1 player until Draper just surpassed him.
Norrie became victorious at the Championships, finishing unseeded and ranked lower than Draper, winning 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 7-6 (8-6) on the top court.
Due to the outcome, Norrie, 28, has earned a trip to the third round, where he will take on either American Marcos Giron, the unseeded number one seed, or fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev.
Draper, who only ever made it to the second round before 2024, was looking to have his best-ever run in the SW19 tournament as he was seeded 28th in the men’s singles division.
Despite his impressive success going into Wimbledon, when Draper won his maiden ATP Tour championship and produced a memorable victory against Carlos Alcaraz at Queen’s Club, he was unable to finish the job against his fellow Brit, Norrie.
Draper, 22, has been compared to a young Andy Murray and Murray himself is a huge fan of the British No.1, telling Metro that he’s set for a ‘big future’ in tennis.
But for now, the focus is firmly back on Norrie, who has become the last British man standing in the men’s singles at Wimbledon 2024.
Norrie is hoping for a career resurgence after tumbling down the rankings from his career-high world No.8 spot in 2022 to his current ranking of world No.42.
‘I just love this court,’ Norrie said after the match. ‘It wasn’t easy coming out to play Jack today, he’s been playing so well. We’re such good friends off the court but we had to put that to one side today.
‘I felt I was a bit of an underdog coming into today so I was pretty relaxed. I was happy with my level today and it’s nice to get through.
‘I’m feeling good physically. I just wanted to trust in my movement and trust in my legs, I knew I’d had some good practice so I’m just glad to use that today and use my experience against Jack. It wasn’t an easy match, it was a bit nervy towards the end in that tie-break but I managed to stay calm enough to get it done.’