"You turn up on time for whatever it is": Norrie reignites Djokovic feud amid ill tempered tie in Rome

Tuesday, 30 May 2023 at 17:00

Cameron Norrie had some words to say about Novak Djokovic's comment about him following a heated Rome clash which saw the Serbian question the behaviour of Norrie.

Norrie and Djokovic played at the Rome Masters recently with Djokovic winning the match. It was an interesting match on the court as it featured a few interesting moments including Norrie hitting Djokovic with an overhead. The Serbian stared him down after that and after the match made some comments calling Norrie's behaviour not the best.

Norrie responds to Djokovic

Norrie has now responded to Djokovic and his comments explaining that he doesn't really see anything wrong with what he had done. Djokovic complained that Norrie was yelling 'come on' to him after every point. Norrie's response to that:

“I didn’t think I was in his face at all. I think if anyone knows me, I’m pretty vocal in some matches and in other matches. I love seeing players compete and really get up for the matches and really wanting to win. You see it in all sports. On the football field and on the tennis court. For me, I’m competing as hard as I can. I’m not trying to do it to distract the other guy or anything. I’m really just pumped to win every point I can and I’m playing point for point. This is the only time that anyone’s had an issue with it. It was a regular tennis match for me. I competed as hard as I could and I went toe-for-toe with him. At the end of the day, he won the match. For me, that’s all that matters and it was a good match to play before the French.”

Norrie calls out Djokovic for being late

The match in Rome actually didn't begin on time as Djokovic requested a bit more time with the physio which was within the rules. On that, Norrie said:

“And for him also it’s in the rules to start the match on his time – being late. I think it’s normal.The ATP told me that it was within the rules. He wanted some more time on the physio bed and the match was scheduled for 11am. And we walked out maybe 11.12, 11.13, I don’t think he saw any problem with that. He never said anything to me. And he never apologised. I asked: ‘Was that okay to do that?’ They said: ‘Yeah, it is within the rules.’ After 15 minutes he gets defaulted. I said: ‘Okay.’ And I continued warming up. I’ve never seen that before but I think it’s within the rules from what they said.”