Watch: Novak Djokovic’s death stare after opponent smashes ball at him
Novak Djokovic’s gave an angry glare at his opponent Cameron Norrie after the latter hit him in the left calf with an overhead smash.
This was 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 in Italian Open 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.
“I did watch the replay when he hit me. Maybe you could say he didn’t hit me deliberately,” Djokovic was quoted as saying AP 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.
What happened there? 😳#IBI23 pic.twitter.com/anA3ZvqVjj
— Tennis TV (@TennV) May 16, 2023
“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,” Djokovic said before adding, “He brought the fire, and I responded to that. I’m not going to allow someone behaving like this just bending my head. I’m going to respond to that.”