The 29-year-olds best result of the season came at Wimbledon, where he took down British number one Jack Draper in straight sets to reach the third round.

His worst injury of the season struck before the Paris Olympics however, as Norrie pulled out just hours before his opening match with a forearm injury that saw him side-lined until October.

Norrie is looking to get back to the form that fans know he can produce, as the Brit is a former world number eight and won Indian Wells back in 2021.

His search for a first ATP win since July continued in Metz where he faced off against Spain’s Roberto Carballes Baena, a match full of controversy.

Roberto Carballes Baena unhappy with Cameron Norrie after defeat in Metz

Norrie finally got back in the win column with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Carballes Baena in Metz.

The pair had a heated exchange at the net however, as the Spaniard was unhappy with the way Norrie conducted himself during the match.

“You say vamos, looking in my face all the time,” Carballes Baena said.

“What are you doing? Come on.”

The Brit defended himself saying that he was just trying to keep himself motivated during tough moments.

“I’m playing so bad, I was playing so bad, I had to try and fire myself up, come on,” said Norrie.

Carballes Baena was unsurprisingly frustrated after a close defeat to Norrie whom he is ranked just one place above in the ATP rankings.

Norrie went on to explain his actions further in his post-match interview.

“I was trying to get fired up and he was apparently not happy with me saying vamos a couple of times, but I stopped doing it and I started playing better,” he said.

“He’s a great competitor Roberto [Carballes Baena], he fought really hard today, and yeah I managed to get lucky a little bit in the third set.”

Can Cameron Norrie end 2024 with a title in Metz?

Norrie’s first win since July will be a big relief for the 29-year-old, but he will be hoping to build on the result with a strong week in France.

Unfortunately, the Brit is now set to come up against one of the pre-tournament favorites, Grigor Dimitrov, who until recently was in the running to qualify for this year’s ATP Finals.

The Bulgarian has enjoyed an impressive season on tour, with Dimitrov winning the Brisbane Open earlier this year, before reaching the final in Miami, losing out to world number one Jannik Sinner.

It would be a tough ask for Norrie to get past Dimitrov, but even if he were to advance to the quarter-finals, things won’t get much easier.

• R16 – Grigor Dimitrov
• QF – Zizou Bergs
• SF – Andrey Rublev
• F – Casper Ruud

Potential match-ups against Andrey Rublev and Casper Ruud would require Norrie to score three top-ten wins en route to a first title of the season.

To put the difficulty of that task into context, Norrie’s last top-ten win came in March of 2023.

The Brit will return to the court to face off against Dimitrov on Wednesday.

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