Novak Djokovic 'never apologised' for being late in Rome, says Cameron Norrie as spat continues

Published 30/05/2023 at 16:31 GMT

The war of words between Cameron Norrie and Novak Djokovic - that began following their fiery match at the Italian Open - has carried over into Roland-Garros, with Norrie now giving his first public utterances on the matter. On the subject of Djokovic being late to the match, Norrie said he had "never seen that before from any player", and that Djokovic "never apologised".

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Novak Djokovic "never apologised" for being late to his fiery match with Cameron Norrie in Rome, says the Brit as their war of words spilled over into the French Open.

Djokovic won the pair's round of 16 Italian Open meeting in straight sets, but there was a high degree of needle during the encounter with Norrie hitting the Serbian on the leg with a smash, whilst also seeming to celebrate vocally in the 22-time major champion's direction.

The two then exchanged a frosty handshake at the culmination of the encounter.

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Djokovic was first to give his reaction at the time, calling Norrie's actions "not fair play".

"From the very beginning, he was doing all the things that were allowed," Djokovic said. "He’s allowed to take a medical timeout. 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.

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"Those are the things that we players know in the locker room. It’s not fair play, it’s not how we treat each other."

But Norrie has now responded by saying that Djokovic had also been bending the rules by being late to arrive for the walk-on.

“He wanted some more time on the physio bed and the match was scheduled for 11am,” said Norrie. “And we walked out maybe 11.12am, 11.13am. I don’t think he saw any problem with that.

"He never said anything to me. And he never apologised.

“I asked: ‘Was that OK to do that?’ They [the officials] said: ‘Yeah, it is within the rules.’ After 15 minutes, he gets defaulted. I said: ‘OK,’ and I continued warming up.

“I’ve never seen that before from any player. Regardless if it’s a tennis match or not, you turn up on time for whatever it is.

“I wanted to win, it was one of those matches where he’s one of the best players in the world and I wanted to play my best and compete as hard as I could.

“I didn’t think I was in his face at all. I think, if anyone knows me, I’m pretty vocal in some matches. It was a regular tennis match for me.

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“I was feeling my hip a little bit and I took the medical time-out. It is within the rules. And for him also it’s in the rules to start the match on his time – being late.”

Of the smash that connected with Djokovic, Norrie added: "I apologised straight away and I didn’t see him. I looked up and hit the ball down low.

"I didn’t see him turn and concede the point."

Both players got their French Open off to a winning start on Monday, the Brit beating Benoit Paire in five sets, while Djokovic saw off American Aleksandar Kovacevic.