How Cameron Norrie came to thrill Wimbledon after starting tennis aged four with squash racket

He appeared calm today but when Cameron Norrie steps on to Court One at Wimbledon tomorrow, he’ll feel the full weight of the nation’s hopes.

The last Briton standing in the championship will face Belgian David Goffin in his first ever quarter-finals appearance at SW19.

And while the 26-year-old British hopeful looked relaxed as he cycled to the All England Club for practice today, he admitted last night: ‘It’s always going to be a lot of pressure and a lot of people watching what’s going on.

‘There are a lot of emotions right now, but the tournament’s still going on. So, not satisfied yet and want to keep pushing for more.’

He enjoyed the biggest win of his career on Sunday when he beat American Tommy Paul in straight sets to the delight of the crowd and became the first British man to reach the quarter finals since Sir Andy Murray in 2017.

Born to British parents in Johannesburg, he first started playing tennis aged four with a cut-down squash racket on an ‘imaginary court’ next to his home.

His mother Helen, 59, a biochemist from Cardiff, said: ‘He wanted to play all the time.’ When he was still a child, the family left South Africa and moved to Auckland, where his mother and Glasgow-born father David – also a biochemist – still live.

They noticed their left-handed son had talent and he went into a coaching programme, reaching the top 10 junior ranking worldwide.

He eventually switched allegiance to his parents’ homeland and when he was 16 he came alone to the LTA’s national training centre in Roehampton, London.

After three years, he won a scholarship to go Texas Christian College in Fort Worth, Texas, studying sociology alongside his tennis.

But in 2016, a night out at a bar ended with six stitches in his chin after