Norrie vs Alcaraz: The battle of Ibiza comes to Wimbledon

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Untz untz meets doof doof in the Wimbledon quarter-finals, though Cameron Norrie and Carlos Alcaraz aren’t your usual Ibiza Final Boss archetypes. 

Players approach the task of rivalling the world’s best in different ways. Certain admirers will implement the same nutritional tendencies, some will imitate workout routines, others will nab a niche downtime activity with which to fortify their work-life balance. And some will go to Hï at 9pm on a Friday (Go to Spotify…*shakes head in disappointment*).

Alcaraz resumes his bid to win a third straight Wimbledon crown when he seeks to derail a purring Norrie for a place in the last four on Tuesday. Just as he did prior to each of the last two triumphant fortnights at SW19, the Spaniard preceded his All England Club campaign with a trip to Ibiza.

So too, did Norrie. Do as the champions do, some might say.

“A lot of tennis players have told me about Ibiza,” said Alcaraz. “So I don’t know. I’m just going to ask Ibiza to pay me a little bit from that (smiling).

“I’m just happy to see that the things that I’m doing is always helpful for other players just to be happy or to play a good tennis.

“It doesn’t matter if it is Ibiza or other places. Just find a place that is peaceful for them, and they are going to use it for his favour in the tournaments.”

Brits on tour seemingly like to think of Ibiza and its party-central offerings as something of their own homely nest for unwinding, perhaps too much at times. But with a visit to the Balearic island Norrie, like most, has found peace and a renewed energy.

He referred to experimenting with the ‘Carlos method’ in one interview and described how he visited the nightclub Pacha before spending the remainder of his time there relaxing.

The result has been another appearance in the second week of Wimbledon as the last British player standing in the singles draw after fending off the mammoth-serving Nicolas Jarry in a five-set fourth-round thriller.

“Facing Cam is always really, really difficult,” said Alcaraz. “We have really difficult battles already. Yeah, for me facing him is almost a nightmare, to be honest.

“Really tough from the baseline. I’m not surprised he’s on the quarter-final playing a great tennis because I’ve seen him practicing.

“When he lost at Queen’s, he stayed for five days practicing morning, afternoon, and night. I saw him. So I’m not surprising at all seeing his level.

“It’s going to be really different. He’s playing at home, as well, so he’s going to use the crowd to his side. I have to be really strong mentally and focused to play a good tennis if I want to beat him.”

Norrie has been a chasm away from contention and from the world’s elite for much of the last year, a decline in form combining with a three-month spell out of action with an arm injury in making for a rocky 2024.

He meanwhile found himself ranked 91st in the world earlier this year, before rising to 61st heading into Wimbledon.

This week he spoke of rediscovering his enjoyment of the sport and even admitted it had been trumping the results themselves, his relief over as much underlined when he threw himself to the ground while celebrating his marathon win over Jarry.

Norrie had toppled a monster serve boasting 46 aces, valiantly held his nerve after surrendering a two-set lead and soaked up an electric Wimbledon atmosphere to wrestle the spotlight in his direction. He lives for the brawling, gruelling tussles; Alcaraz will give him that.

“The crowd is involved, and the crowd was on my side,” he said after beating Jarry. “I really tried to use that. Like I said the other day, I had my friends, my family, my girlfriend there watching supporting, and I wanted to give everyone something to cheer about,” said Norrie.

“There’s so many different parts to the game of tennis with momentum and energy and different moments in the matches with tiebreaks, with break points.

“It’s a lot of fun, and I’m enjoying all aspects of it.

“I think, if you’re a junior player, I would maybe watch that match and look at both of our body languages for the whole match. None of us dropped our heads. We did nothing negative. It was all positive. He was getting fired up; I was getting fired up. I loved all of it.”

Former world No 8 Norrie is bidding to reach the semi-finals of a Grand Slam for just the second time, having been beaten by Novak Djokovic in the final four at Wimbledon back in 2022.

In the wake of his win over Jarry he recalled doctors once running tests on the size of his lungs, resulting in them questioning whether he was a deep sea diver such were their staggering size.

His famous cardio will be leaned upon once more when he attempts to tame an Alcaraz riding the momentum of a 22-match winning streak featuring his staggering five-set French Open victory over Jannik Sinner.

The second seed is coming off a four-set win over Andrey Rublev in the previous round, after which he largely shelved assessments over his shot selection and success while underlining a greater focus on the mental side of his game.

“Tennis is really a mental sport. How you talk to yourself is really, really important through the whole match,” said Alcaraz.

“So I’m just trying to be as much positive as I can. Sometimes is really difficult. A lot of narratives, thoughts come to your mind most of the time because tennis match could be really long.

“I’m trying to fill my mind with positive thoughts all the time. Just repeating myself that I can do it, let’s go for it, all the things that are really helpful to play your best and not being afraid to play aggressively or to play my A plan.

“That’s my conversation with myself, that it’s really, really important to fill your mind with positive thoughts.”

There is a swagger to the two-step and a bounce to the head bob, both translating Ibiza antics-come-serenity into All England contention. The party goes on. For one, it must stop.

Norrie wants the noise, welcoming another dose of the raucous atmosphere that fuelled his win over Jarry.

“I think the crowd knows that I like the atmosphere being loud, and especially there was a few moments in the match where they just got really loud in a Love-30, in the tiebreak,” he said.

“You can feel the energy coming back to you. So it’s so good. I actually watched Emma’s match (Raducanu’s match against Aryna Sabalenka).

“The level was really high, so it was nice to see her very calm and playing her tennis, enjoying her tennis as well. She was getting fired up with the crowd, too. I was really enjoying that.”

Alcaraz is bidding to win a third successive Wimbledon title and holds a 91.7 grass-court win percentage, the highest in the Open era.

But Norrie has become an underrated, subtle feather-rustler. Last year he angered Roberto Carballés Baena with his cries of ‘vamos!’ stemming from his long-time relationship with Argentine coach Facundo Lugones. Novak Djokovic previously took a dislike to Norrie’s frequent fist-pumping celebrations after points, while the Serbian was also left displeased at the Rome Masters in 2023 when Norrie hit an overhead smash into his legs after the 24-time Grand Slam champion had turned his back to concede a point.

And just this week Jarry voiced his frustration over the number of times Norrie was bouncing the ball in between serves, sharing heated words with his opponent at the end of the match.

Norrie might be the least malicious player on tour. And Alcaraz isn’t so easily rattled, not by a long stretch. But the Brit, while perhaps lacking one standout masterful weapon, at times operates with the kind of relentless that incites both frustration and impatience. At times he is the ultimate mental test.

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