Cameron Norrie accidentally struck a member of the crowd in Auckland (Image: Tennis TV)
Cameron Norrie accidentally struck a member of the crowd at the ASB Classic on Tuesday after launching his racket in frustration.
The South Africa-born British tennis star had a torrid time in the opening match of his home tournament against Facundo Diaz. Having lost the first set, Norrie’s anger boiled over when his miscued shot into the net brought Diaz to match point in the second.
Exasperated, Norrie flung his racket and it sailed straight into the stands behind him. One female spectator reacted quickly to stop the racket hitting her flush in the face, with Norrie quickly offering a hand of apology before going on to lose the match 6-2 6-3.
Norrie only received a warning from the chair umpire despite similar events landing players with harsh punishments. In May last year, Terence Atmane was fined approximately £20,000 for accidentally striking a French Open spectator with a ball.
At the same tournament the year prior, the women’s doubles pairing of Miyu Kato and Aldila Sutjiadi were defaulted after Kato struck a ball girl with a tennis ball.
Norrie admitted after his match that he could easily have been defaulted. “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,” said the 29-year-old.
“[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 apologised very quickly and I want to apologise in general. I’m not happy with how I behaved.”
MORE TO FOLLOW
We’ll be bringing you the very latest updates, pictures and video on this breaking news story.
For the latest news and breaking news visit: . Stay up to date with all the big headlines, pictures, analysis, opinion and video on the stories that matter to you.
Follow us on Twitter @dexpress_sport – the official Daily Express & Twitter account – providing real news in real time.
We’re also on Facebook @dailyexpresssport – offering your must-see news, features, videos and pictures throughout the day to like, comment and share from the Daily Express, Sunday Express and .