It’s come full circle.

Norrie and Tien’s first match in 2025 was actually against each other, and they’re going to end the year by playing each other again.

I’m not going to do a full retrospective of their year, but roughly speaking, Tien confirmed his potential and Norrie disappointed before seriously waking up. Here they are now in the final of this tournament. Norrie had a tougher draw, which explains why he dropped a lot more sets than Tien. Physically, he didn’t dip at all throughout the week, and I think he’ll still have enough gas in the tank to finish his tournament. Serious mental resilience all week and a convincing level—I can’t really find anything negative on the British side. For Tien, it’s just as good, but he really only had one true opponent in the quarters; the rest was well within his wheelhouse without having to force it. That said, I don’t need to see him against the big guns to know how well he’s playing. He’s got a slight physical edge anyway—he hasn’t spent much time on court compared to Norrie. As for the match-up, it’s not simple. They’ve faced each other 3 times this season and Tien leads 2–1, but the matches have been tight with tiebreaks or multiple sets. That makes sense between two lefties who like to make their opponent work—neither one is easy to really hurt! It’s very much built around physicality for both. I’ve already seen Tien rush things a bit when he can’t find solutions and tires himself out—he’s not just a guy who pushes the ball from the back without trying to do something with it. Their previous meetings point in that direction, and even the one in Shanghai doesn’t feel like a benchmark for Tien, who struggled to impose himself in the rallies. When I look at Norrie’s level in this tournament and his mental resilience, I’m thinking that if the legs hold up once again, he absolutely has what it takes to go on and win a tough match from both sides, no?