(Provided by Tennis World USA)
Cameron Norrie reveals he and Novak Djokovic spoke and cleared the air following their Rome Masters drama. During a Rome round-of-16 match, Djokovic had his back turned at the net when Norrie landed a smash into the Serb’s body.
Djokovic gave a cold stare to Norrie as it was evident that the Serb wasn’t happy with the Briton’s action. After beating Norrie in straight sets, Djokovic said the Briton was allowed to hit him in the body but noted that it just wasn’t a fair play.
“We are good. We talked. We are fine now. At the end of the day, he won,” Norrie told The Telegraph.
Norrie on why Djokovic is such a difficult opponent
Following a 6-3 6-4 win over Norrie in Rome, Djokovic improved to 3-0 against the Briton.
Previously, Djokovic defeated Norrie in straight sets when they met for the first time at the 2021 ATP Finals. Last summer, Norrie was up by a set against Djokovic in the Wimbledon semifinal before the Serb stormed back to win 2-6 6-3 6-2 6-4.
“He’s so difficult. You hit a good shot, right on the line, should be a winner, and he is still bringing it back. So you have another chance and you force it, miss the line by a tiny margin and the point is gone.
He pushes you more and more to the point you have to hit it perfectly. It’s tough not to overplay when you feel like you have to be perfect. That messes with your concentration and then he’s on you. It’s tough but that’s the challenge.
I watched the [French Open] final with Casper [Ruud] the other day and the same thing happened. The other guy is playing well, has his chances, but is drawn into overplaying, overpressing. It’s interesting to see how Djokovic does it.
The more games against the top players the more you learn,” Norrie said. It remains to be seen if Norrie will get to meet Djokovic again this season.
