The British tennis star has a tattoo of one team’s emblem
Cameron Norrie’s rugby link
Born in South Africa and raised in New Zealand, it wouldn’t be a surprise to know that Cameron Norrie likes his rugby. What might raise a few eyebrows, however, is the rugby team the tennis star has a close connection with.
It’s not the Springboks or the All Blacks, or Scotland or Wales – the lands of his father and mother respectively. It’s not the USA Eagles – he spent a period in the States at Texas Christian University – or England, where he now lives having moved to the UK aged 16.
So which country is it? Argentina! When Norrie reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon this week – the first time he has made the last four of a grand slam – los Pumas tweeted their congratulations, describing him as “a great Pumas fan”.
¡Felicitaciones, @cam_norrie! Es un honor que un gran fan de Los Pumas alcance las semifinales de Wimbledon.
¡Todos los éxitos! ?
•••
Congratulations, Cameron! It is an honor that such a great Pumas fan reaches the semifinals of @Wimbledon.#VamosLosPumas https://t.co/TXg6ajAJ14
— Los Pumas (@lospumas) July 6, 2022
Digging a little deeper, we found that Norrie actually has a tattoo of a puma on his ribcage.
He got the inking to mark his first appearance at a major, Wimbledon in 2016, and told The Daily Telegraph two years later: “It was my first time playing Wimbledon, my coach is Argentinean, I quite like rugby. I had always wanted a tattoo and I didn’t want to get something mainstream.”
Norrie’s coach Facundo Lugones has worked with the Brit since 2017 having first met him when they were both at university in Texas. Under his guidance Norrie has broken into the world’s top ten and become known as one of the fittest players on the tennis circuit.
“He does a lot of fitness, probably more than anyone,” Lugones has said. “I don’t even know how much other players do, but it would be hard to beat how many hours Cam does, especially when he’s fitness training with Vasek (Jursik).
“They do some really intense conditioning sessions on the court where he stays in that red zone where the heartbeat is just insane.”
Earlier this year Norrie, who has another Argentinean in his set-up in physiotherapist Julian Romero, received a signed shirt from los Pumas that he proudly displayed with his team.
Muchas gracias @lospumas such a nice gesture to send us some gear and this signed shirt ??? pic.twitter.com/LZIvDQAvvM
— Cameron Norrie (@cam_norrie) May 3, 2022
Argentina are currently preparing for the second of their three Tests against Scotland in Salta, but they may well be keeping one eye on Norrie’s match against Novak Djokovic on Centre Court on Friday too.
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