Many would say Cameron Norrie punched way above his weight by reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals but not the Kiwi-Brit, who wants to go further and win a Grand Slam one day.
The 26-year-old led the home challenge at the All England Club over the last fortnight but his bid to become the first British finalist since Andy Murray won his second Wimbledon title in 2016 ended on Saturday (NZ time) in a defeat by Novak Djokovic.
With the Centre Court crowd basking in sunshine, the left-hander gave the packed stands a lot to cheer for when he won the opening set against the top seed but six-times Wimbledon champion Djokovic recovered to win 2-6 6-3 6-2 6-4.
"I think it was a good experience obviously to play him," Norrie said. "Especially the level he brings here at Wimbledon. Yeah, it gives me a lot of confidence.
"Loved it, loved every moment of it. I think I need to keep working hard and (I've) still got a lot of things I can improve on my game. To reach the semis, reach the Friday of the second week, is pretty sick.
"But I think, for me, I want to go more and I want to do more of that and go one further and try to win a Slam."
Norrie came into the grasscourt major seeded ninth and carried the weight of expectation from the home nation, especially after twice champion Murray and US Open winner Emma Raducanu exited in the second round.
The NZ-raised Norrie said there were many things to be proud of during his deep run and that he learned a great deal.
"A lot of firsts for me this week, a lot of good experiences," Norrie added.
"Hopefully I can take them in my stride. I think looking, compared to Novak, I think it was just that the level of execution from him today was better than me.
"His level of focus, the way he handled his service games was better than me. That was the difference."
Reuters.
