A fortnight ago, the two went up against each other in Rome where Djokovic arrived late due to him needing more time with his physio. Norrie referred to the behavior saying, “I’ve never seen from any player.”
The two also had a sort of altercation when Norrie hit a ball into Djokovic’s back. Djokovic later complained about the Brit’s behavior saying, “He’s allowed to take a medical time out.”
“He’s allowed to hit a player. He’s allowed to say ‘C’mon’ in the face more or less every single point from basically the first game. [But] those are the things that, we players know in the locker room, it’s not fair play,” he added.
Norrie later defended himself saying that he didn’t know where Norrie was standing.
At the French Open, Norrie reopened the issue saying: “regardless if it’s a tennis match or not, you turn up on time for whatever it is.”
“He wanted some more time on the physio bed and the match was scheduled for 11 am. And we walked out maybe 11, 12, 13 [minutes late], I don’t think he saw any problem with that,” Norrie said.
“He never said anything to me. And he never apologized. I asked [the officials]: ‘Was that ok 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.”
Norrie is known to be one of the more laid-back players in the ATP but he still bridles if he feels he is disrespected. On Monday, he was involved in a disagreement with Benoit Paire.
Now, Norrie is the only Brit remaining in the French Open. On Wednesday, he will go up against Lucas Pouille.