British tennis star Cameron Norrie has publicly apologized after an incident at the Auckland Classic, where his frustration led to an accidental collision between his racket and a fan. The mishap occurred during Norrie’s 6-2, 6-3 defeat to Argentina’s Facundo Díaz Acosta. Frustrated after netting a shot that put Díaz Acosta on match point, Norrie tossed his racket backward, inadvertently directing it toward a spectator. The fan raised her hands to shield her face, narrowly avoiding serious harm.
The former world No. 8 received a warning for the action but avoided disqualification. Remarkably, the spectator handled the situation with humor, laughing it off despite the close call. Norrie later spoke to Radio New Zealand, expressing regret. “I apologized to her, and thankfully, she was okay. It barely touched her, but it was a wake-up call. That’s not how I want to represent myself or the sport,” he admitted.
Norrie acknowledged he was struggling mentally during the match. “I was frustrated and threw my racket, which isn’t like me. I came here to play well, but it went completely the opposite way,” he reflected. He also drew parallels to other infamous incidents in tennis, highlighting the thin line between frustration and disqualification. “You can be defaulted easily if the racket or ball hits someone in the wrong spot. That’s not me, and I want to apologize to everyone for my behavior.”
The incident recalls other notable moments of frustration in tennis history. In 2020, Novak Djokovic was disqualified from the US Open after hitting a line judge with a ball, while Denis Shapovalov was defaulted in 2017 for striking an umpire during a Davis Cup tie. More recently, Stefanos Tsitsipas avoided disqualification at Wimbledon in 2022 but was fined for hitting a ball into the stands during a heated match.
Despite the loss, Norrie remains focused on the upcoming Australian Open, where he hopes to improve on last year’s performance, which ended in the fourth round against Alexander Zverev. Meanwhile, Díaz Acosta advances to face fellow Argentine Sebastián Báez in the Round of 16.