Norrie has filled his Putney flat with art, including several Damien Hirsts, and plans to do the same with his new place in Monaco. ‘I started collecting three years ago. It’s addictive,’ says the tennis player, dapper in POLO RALPH LAUREN
Luc Braquet
In 2019, he met Jacobi in New York during the US Open, introduced by one of his teammates. It wasn’t love at first sight; Jacobi was tied to a job in New York and Norrie was travelling the world. But they carried on speaking to each other, and when the business Jacobi was working for closed, ‘she came to a few tournaments and then we just kept hanging out’. More than four years later, they are embarking on glamorous next steps together. First up? An apartment in Monaco – which has walls to fill. Cameron Norrie, a backgammon fanatic, has commissioned American artist Gigi Collins to paint him a ‘Backgammon in Monaco’ oil-on-canvas – but there is more to come. ‘I’ll buy a not-so-expensive $30,000 painting, and then Louise, who’s buying new furniture for the place in Monaco, will see something, and I’m like, “No, no, that’s too expensive.” And she’s like, “What are you talking about? You just spent that on a painting and you can’t buy a bedside table for $1,000?”’ It’s swings and roundabouts: mid-interview, Jacobi starts winding Norrie’s bucatini around her fork. Love all, it seems.
This summer is full of promise for both of them. Jacobi looks set to dethrone Kim Murray as the First Lady of British tennis: newspapers went wild profiling ‘Norrie’s secret weapon’ at the grand slam last year, and a victorious courtside kiss sent the paparazzi into a frenzy. Although for Norrie, it’s not media attention but the children waiting in line to meet their hero that hits home. ‘[I love it] when the kids are pumped. They always say, “Give me a shirt, give me a racket.” I used to be one of those kids,’ he says. While he’s happy to embrace the fanfare, he did find the fanatical recognition he received around Putney last year a little too much: suddenly, he was recognisable, adored and crowded. Because, for all his chilled demeanour, Norrie is said to push himself to insane levels during fitness training. ‘World No 1 is my goal,’ he says, ‘and Wimbledon champion, it has to be.’ With tequila and tiramisu to follow, no doubt.