British tennis player Cameron Norrie has expressed regret after tossing his racket and unintentionally hitting a spectator during a 6-2, 6-3 defeat to Facundo Díaz Acosta at the Auckland Classic.
The ex-world No. 8 threw his racket behind him in frustration after hitting into the net, which gave Díaz Acosta match point, prompting a spectator to raise her hands to prevent it from hitting her in the face.
Norrie got a warning but escaped disqualification for the event, which the spectator seemed to take lightly.
“I apologised to the woman, and she seemed alright. She was smiling and hardly affected. After the game, he told Radio New Zealand (RNZ), “I didn’t intend to do that, and it certainly served as a wake-up call.” “I came here hoping to perform well, but it turned out to be entirely different.”
“I didn’t feel at ease.” “I was tossing my racket, which isn’t typical for me at all,” he went on.
“As we observed with certain other players, one can quickly be defaulted if they’re in a bad position or not paying attention or similar,” the 29-year-old remarked, as reported by The Guardian. “I didn’t intend to do that, and it’s entirely out of character for me to behave like that.” I quickly offered my apologies and wish to apologize overall. “I’m dissatisfied with my actions.”
Novak Djokovic faced disqualification from the 2020 US Open after he inadvertently struck a line judge with a ball. In the same vein, Denis Shapovalov was disqualified in 2017 after hitting the umpire with a ball during a Davis Cup match versus Great Britain.
Nevertheless, at Wimbledon in 2022, Stefanos Tsitsipas received a $10,000 fine but escaped disqualification after he struck a ball into the audience during an intense third-round match with Nick Kyrgios.
Díaz Acosta will compete against his fellow Argentine Sebastián Báez in the Round of 16.
