Centre Court just saw some rapid tennis, with Carlos Alcaraz winning his quarterfinal match against Cameron Norrie 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 in just 1 hour and 39 minutes. Alcaraz had a seemingly easy game of this, keeping the Brit on his toes throughout; however, some people in particular might think that Cam Norrie, the Brit with the home advantage, was trying to throw the Spaniard off his game with his use of language. And some people refer to the former world. No. 1 John McEnroe.

For some context, during the early stages of the match, Norrie attempted to shift some of Alcaraz’s momentum and rally the audience to his side. After a shot from Alcaraz was fired out of bounds, Norrie yelled out “Vamos” during the round of applause. And for those who are unaware, “vamos” is a Spanish word translating to “let’s go” in English.

McEnroe, who was serving as a commentator for this game on BBC, pointed out Cam Norrie’s multicultural background and his own confusion at him speaking a Spanish word: “It’s weird for a guy that was born in South Africa, grew up in New Zealand, and is a Brit that he’s saying vamos.” McEnroe was audibly confused to hear the phrase when he said on live air, “Was that Norrie saying ‘vamos’?” soon after the point that Carlos Alcaraz lost.

What McEnroe may not be privy to is that Norrie’s coach is the Argentinian Facundo Lugones, so perhaps there is some Spanish influence on that end. So is it just a quirk that Norrie has adopted or a subtle attempt at throwing his opponents off their game? Well, Roberto Carballés Baena seems to think the latter.

Norrie, known to hype himself up in French and Spanish, was involved in a frosty exchange with Carballés Baena after beating the Spaniard in Metz last November. “You say ‘vamos!’ all the time, looking right in my face,” accused Carballés Baena. But Norrie went to casually deflect the claim. “A couple of ‘vamoses’ and you get pissed off?” he said. “I’m playing so bad, so I had to fire myself up.”

Carlos Alcaraz’s words after his quarterfinal match against Cam Norrie

Despite Cam Norrie seeming to upset John McEnroe, his opponent, Carlos Alcaraz, had nothing but praise for the Brit, stating in his post-match speech, “I just really happy with the level that I played today against a really difficult player like Cam — he’s an amazing player, he’s an amazing guy as well. I’m pretty sure there is nobody who works harder than him, and just really happy to see him fighting for great things, so just happy to see him playing these kinds of matches and happy to qualify in a semifinal.”

Sure, it’s easy to say all this when you’ve just beaten the guy in straight sets and in under two hours, but Alcaraz was genuinely really happy with his own game.

He even said he’d like to try and keep the same form and game in his semi-final match against Taylor Fritz this Friday, adding, ” I played few times against him, always a really tough to play against. I will try to play same level as today, I think I will get a chance. But just focus.” Alcaraz then stressed how he wanted to try and just live in the moment, as it is a special thing to get to the Wimbledon semi-finals. 

When asked how he would use his days off before the next big game, Alcaraz mentioned that he would play golf to switch his mind “off for a little bit.” And though switching one’s mind off can quite easily occur in the comfort of a fancy hotel room with room service, golf is also an option, and Carlos Alcaraz clearly knows what he’s doing!