It has been a great couple of months for British tennis as Emma Raducanu scripted an incredible history by winning the US Open. The youngster ended Britain’s long wait for the next women Grand Slam winner. Now, Cameron Norrie has won the BNP Paribas Open as he defeated Georgian Nicoloz Basilashvili in the finals.
This was Norrie’s first Masters 1000 title and it also saw him jump straight into the top 20 rankings in the world. The 26-year-old credited Raducanu’s journey to the US Open as a motivating factor for him coming into the Indian Wells. The Brit went on saying that he could not believe Raducanu winning the US Open and is still in shock of him winning the BNP Paribas Open.
“What she has done has been extremely impressive and she inspired me a little bit, that was crazy,” the British No. 1 said about Raducanu’s exceptional rise to the tennis world.
“I don’t know what’s more believable, her winning the US Open or me winning this — 50-50 maybe,” Norrie added.
Britain tennis governing body, the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) took to Twitter to celebrate the success of both its players.
Former British No.1 Greg Rudeski has hailed the rise of British tennis following the success of Emma Raducanu and Cameron Norrie. He highlighted how the rise of these two tennis stars will mean that British tennis will once again be on the rise.
While a lot of people were wondering who’s next after Andy Murray but then the rise of these two stars has restored people’s belief in British tennis.
“It’s incredible to think what just happened,” Rusedski was quoted as saying by Tennis 365. “We were all wondering what would happen when Andy Murray finished, but we could have a top 10 player by the end of the season and then you have [Emma] Raducanu winning the US Open. It does not get much better than this.”
Norrie had a tremendous journey to win the Indian Wells, he overcame the challenge from Roberto Batista Agut in the third round. Followed by a win against Diego Schwartzmann in the quarterfinals and lastly defeated Grigor Dimitrov to enter the finals.
