Rome: Djokovic takes issue with Cameron Norrie’s behaviour

Rome : Novak Djokovic’s angry glare made it clear how furious the 22-time Grand Slam champion was with his opponent.

And it wasn’t just because Cameron Norrie hit him in the left calf with an overhead smash after Djokovic had already turned his back and conceded a point early in the second set of the Serb’s 6-3, 6-4 win on Tuesday. There were also other instances of bad sportsmanship from Norrie, Djokovic said after reaching the Italian Open quarterfinals for the 17th straight year. Djokovic also took issue with how his British opponent took a medical time out just before he served out the match.

“I did watch the replay when he hit me. Maybe you could say he didn’t hit me deliberately,” Djokovic said when asked about his angry glare toward Norrie after the incident. “It was not so much maybe about that. ... From the very beginning, he was doing all the things that were allowed. He’s allowed to take a medical timeout. He’s allowed to hit a player. He’s allowed to say Come on’ in the face more or less every single point from basically first game.

“I actually finished my warmup 10 minutes before I went on the court. So I was rushing a bit with everything but we couldn’t (warm up) earlier because of the rain,” Djokovic said. “So I’m just glad to overcome today’s challenge in straight sets and move on.” Djokovic was seen in the trainer’s room before the match, having taken three weeks off before this tournament because of a lingering issue with his surgically repaired right elbow. “Every day is something,” the 35-year-old Djokovic said, without specifying what was bothering him. Djokovic committed less than half as many unforced errors as Norrie, 14-29; and had two more winners, 21-19. Norrie won a title on clay in Rio de Janeiro earlier this year, beating Carlos Alcaraz in the final.