 "Watch: Cameron Norrie apologises after racquet flies out of hand, hits spectator during Auckland Open")
British tennis star Cameron Norrie found himself involved in a risky situation at the Auckland Open after his racquet hit a spectator during his opening round match against Argentina’s Facundo Diaz Acosta on Tuesday.
The Johannesburg-born Norrie, who grew up in Auckland before moving to Britain, avoided disqualification after apologising for the incident. Norrie was facing a match point against Acosta when the racquet that he tossed in the air flew over to the court-side box where it struck a woman. The spectator, however, was unhurt.
Watch the incident here:
Can Norrie hits a spectator accidentally after losing a point. Very very Similar to Novak Djokovic’s 2020 US Open situation.
— SK (@Djoko_UTD) January 7, 2025
But no default…Rules apply only to Djokovic???? Where’s fair play @atptour ???https://t.co/IoIV1hMlLu
Norrie received a warning from the chair umpire and went on to lose 6-2, 6-3 in the first round of the tournament. He reached the final in Auckland in 2023.
“I wasn’t meaning to do that but it’s still not ideal to be doing that and I’ve never done something like that," Norrie said. (The spectator) “was laughing and I just said ‘so sorry, I didn’t mean to do that.’ And she said ‘yeah, I’m completely OK.’
“That was not a big deal. But as we saw with some other players, you can easily be defaulted if it catches them in the wrong spot or they’re not looking or something.
“I was not meaning to do that and it is completely not me to do something like that. I apologized very quickly and I want to apologize in general. I’m not happy with how I behaved.”
Novak Djokovic was disqualified from the 2020 US Open after accidentally hitting a line judge with a ball and at the 2023 French Open Miyu Kato and Aldila Sutjiadi were defaulted from the women’s doubles after a ball hit by Kato struck a ball girl.
Also in 2023, Australian tennis player Marc Polmans was defaulted from the final round of qualifying at the Shanghai Masters after hitting a ball into the face of the chair umpire.
With AP inputs
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