Although the direct hit allowed Norrie to score his sole break of serve in the match, Djokovic had soon re-established his advantage. Whatever the rights and wrongs, provoking Djokovic is not generally advised. The next time the two men crossed paths, as they returned to their chairs for a changeover, he eyeballed Norrie again. From the way Djokovic reacted, he had expected something more wholehearted. While Norrie apologised at once, he did so briefly and then got on with his business. Djokovic glowered furiously in Norrie’s direction after a full-blooded smash struck him on the back of the left ankle/calf region.įrom Norrie’s perspective, however, it could be argued that he was looking up at the ball – a gentle and juicy lob, right on top of the net – and thus might not have seen that his opponent was walking back to the service line, with no intention of continuing the rally. There was an extra edge to the contest even before the direct hit, which took place midway through the second set. This was the result of a niggle that Djokovic felt in his warm-up, which needed treatment.

Norrie’s views on the match are not yet known, but it is possible that he might have felt disgruntled about Djokovic’s belated arrival on the court 10 minutes after the scheduled start time. “Those are the things that we players know in the locker room it’s not fair play,” added Djokovic. He’s allowed to say ‘C’mon’ in the face more or less every single point from basically the first game. From the very beginning, I don’t know, he was doing all the things that were allowed. “It was not so much maybe about that,” said Djokovic of the body shot, “but it was maybe a combination of things. The match looked routine on the scorecard – a 6-3, 6-4 victory for Djokovic – but featured plenty of incident along the way.

World No1 Djokovic declared himself perplexed by Norrie’s conduct during their round-of-16 meeting in Rome. Novak Djokovic accused Cameron Norrie of “not fair play” after the British No1 landed a direct hit on his body with an overhead smash during a fractious match in Rome.

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