Among the British proverbs that you can buy on wooden plaques or fridge magnets, one in particular is extremely popular.

Keep calm and carry on - keep calm and carry on

.

What has happened so far in the career of the man who will play against Novak Djokovic this Friday, Cameron Norrie, could hardly be summarized more aptly and compactly.

The fourth semi-finalist in the great Britain of professional tennis after Andy Murray, Tim Henman and Roger Taylor, Norrie is now stepping up into a league many of his countrymen have long thought was a tad too big for him.

Norrie was under no illusions

You had to get used to him anyway.

Norrie was born in Johannesburg/South Africa in 1995, grew up in New Zealand with his Welsh mother and Scottish father, exchanged his New Zealand passport for a British one at the age of 16 and studied in the USA, where he received one of the most successful college degrees for the University of Texas. player was.

After that, turning pro, he had no illusions that he was tearing apart the world of big tennis.

He never set any crazy goals, he said after his fighting victory in the quarterfinals against Belgian David Goffin.

"That would have been pretty unrealistic.

But I think I did a good job of keeping expectations low and then, step by step, getting the most out of my talent.”

He mainly used the break from playing during the Corona period to work on his fitness, and now there are no longer any paths in the game that would be too far or too strenuous for him - impressive to see in the game against Goffin.

In April he was tenth in the world rankings, at the moment he's twelfth, he's number one in British tennis, and he's gradually coming out of it.

In recent victories he has received acclaim and support from the crowd in a way he had never seen before and could not have imagined in his wildest dreams.

And now how does he see the situation in the game against Novak Djokovic?

Can he imagine a win against the defending champion?

"Secure.

Although that is of course one of the toughest tasks in tennis. ”A task that nobody in Wimbledon has been able to solve for five years.