Norrie Smashes Ball Into Novak Djokovic, Gets Death Stare

Djokovic later accused Norrie of not fair play. He declared that he was perplexed by Norries conduct.

It was not so much maybe about that, said Djokovic of the hit.

But it was maybe a combination of things. From the very beginning, I dont know, he was doing all the things that were allowed. Hes allowed to take a medical timeout. Hes allowed to hit a player.

Hes allowed to say Cmon in the face more or less every single point from basically the first game.

Those are the things that we players know in the locker room its not fair play, added Djokovic. Its not how we treat each other. But again, its allowed, so

Norrie made no comments on his conduct but it is possible that aside from his loss, he may also have been irritated by the fact that Djokovic came to court late as he had to seek medical attention.

As the video shows, it appears that Norrie was not looking at Djokovic as he made the overhead smash that hit the 22-time Grand Slam winner in the back.

Norrie did apologize but he did so briefly and from the way Djokovic reacted, it looked like he was expecting more.

“I did watch the replay when he hit me,” said Djokovic afterward.

“Maybe you could say he didn’t hit me deliberately. I don’t know if he saw me. I mean peripheratically [sic] you can always see where the player is positioned on the court. The ball was super slow and super close to the net. I just turned around because the point was over for me.”

“I get along with Cameron really well all these years that hes been on the tour. Practiced with each other. Hes a very nice guy off the court, so I don’t understand this kind of attitude on the court, to be honest.”