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Cameron Norrie returned serve to Novak Djokovic in Paris following their turbulent Rome Masters duel. Norrie hit Djokovic in his leg with a smash at the net on a break point in the second set's fourth game. Novak stood with his back turned toward the net, and Cameron drilled him despite having a slow ball and a chance to place it anywhere else.
Djokovic turned and stared at his opponent for a couple of seconds, not liking that move at all. The Briton explained he did not intend to hit the Serb, apologizing immediately. Djokovic turned and stared at his opponent for a couple of seconds, not liking that move at all.
Cameron Norrie responded to Novak Djokovic's claims over their Rome incident.
Also, world no. 1 mentioned Norrie's late medical timeout in the second set and his constant 'Cmo'n' right from the start of the match. On the other hand, the encounter started late due to Djokovic's prolonged time on the physio bed, with no words from world no.
1 before he and Cameron stepped on the court. After the encounter and Novak's win in straight sets, we saw a cold handshake, and it will be interesting to follow their reactions when they meet next time. Novak beat Cameron 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and a half, losing serve once and delivering three breaks to enter his 17th consecutive Rome quarter-final.
"I apologized straight away, and I did not see Novak. I looked up and hit the ball down low. I did not see him turn and concede the point. It was one of those matches against one of the world's best players, and I wanted to play my best and compete as hard as I could.
I did not think I was in his face at all. If anyone knows me, I'm pretty vocal in some matches, so it was a regular tennis match. I felt my hip a bit and took a medical timeout; it's within the rules. Novak wanted a bit more time on the physio bed before the match.
We started 12 or 13 minutes later, and he saw nothing wrong with that. He never said anything to me or apologized. I never saw that before, but the organizers said it was within the rules," Cameron Norrie said.