Novak Djokovic booked his place in the Italian Open quarter-finals with a 6-3 6-4 victory over British No.1 Cameron Norrie in Rome on Tuesday.
World No.1 Djokovic, the defending champion in Rome, complained about the quality of the courts in the build-up to the match but that did not matter as he battled past Norrie, in what was a repeat of last year’s Wimbledon semi-final.
It proved to be a feisty encounter with Norrie irked by Djokovic arriving 10 minutes late – and after some stern first-set exchanges – the animosity grew when the British star hit a smash into the 35-year-old’s left leg with his back turned.
‘I don’t know if he saw me, I mean, peripherally you can always see where the player is positioned on the court,’ Djokovic said about the incident. ‘The ball was super slow and super close to the net. I just turned around because the point was over for me.’
Djokovic was unhappy with Norrie’s medical time-out and screaming in-between points, adding: ‘From the very beginning, he was doing all the things that were allowed. He’s allowed to take a medical timeout. Allowed to hit a player. Allowed to say ‘C’mon’ in the face more or less every single point from basically [the] first game.’
Tuesday’s last-16 clash was the third time Djokovic and Norrie have faced each other and the first-ever meeting on clay, with the Serbian now winning all three times against the world No.13, as he steps up preparations for Roland-Garros.
Djokovic headed into the match as a strong favourite following wins over Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Grigor Dimitrov and will next face Holger Rune as he looks to go on and win the title in the penultimate event before the French Open.
Quizzed about spending time in the treatment room with injury before the match, Djokovic added: ‘Well, you know… everyday there is something. Thankfully I was able to play and finish the match. Hopefully tomorrow I will feel even better.’
The 22-time major champion will be buoyed by Carlos Alcaraz’s shock exit to a Hungarian qualifier in Rome, in what was a major upset, with the young Spaniard – who will still take the world No.1 spot from Djokovic on Monday – having not lost a match on European clay all season, winning titles in Barcelona and Madrid.
Some tipped Alcaraz to win the second Grand Slam of his career at the French Open but a shock exit to Fabian Marozsan is undoubtedly a physiological blow ahead of the action in Paris and may be a boost to Djokovic’s hopes of moving ahead of Rafael Nadal for the most major men’s singles trophies in history.
Djokovic won the first Grand Slam of the year at the Australian Open in January to equal Nadal on 22 major titles and there are question marks over whether or not the Spanish legend – dubbed the ‘King of Clay’ – will play due to injury concerns.
Norrie, meanwhile, was hit by a late injury scare in his defeat to Djokovic and will hope to recover in time before the French Open gets started on May 28.
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