Disappointed Novak Djokovic gives poignant reply after being hit by Cameron Norrie during fiery Italian Open clash

Novak Djokovic booked his spot in the quarterfinals of the Italian Open for the 17th time in a row by beating Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-4 in the fourth round of the 2023 edition on Tuesday.

However, what garnered the most attention during the clash was the moment when Norrie hit the 22-time Grand Slam champion in the leg with an overhead smash in the second set. Djokovic was understandably annoyed afterwards, treating the Brit to a cold staredown despite the latter's immediate apology.

Their handshake at the net wasn't warm either, which led to Djokovic being questioned about the incident at his post-match press conference. The World No. 1 said he did not want to get into whether Norrie's actions were deliberate or not, as he felt it could go either way depending on how one saw it.

Regardless, Djokovic expressed disappointment with the way his colleague behaved on the night - from taking a medical timeout right before the final game of the match to his repeated yells of "C'mon!"

"I did watch the replay when he hit me. Yeah, maybe you could say he didn't hit me deliberately. I don't know if he saw me. I mean, peripheralically [sic] you can always see where the player is positioned on the court. The ball was super slow and super close to the net. I just turned around because the point was over for me," Djokovic said.

"It was not so much maybe about that, but it was maybe a combination of things. From the very beginning, I don't know, he was doing all the things that were allowed. He's allowed to take a medical timeout. He's allowed to hit a player. He's allowed to say C'mon in the face more or less every single point from basically first game," he added.

While Djokovic admitted that all those actions were legal, he claimed that it was common knowledge in the locker room that one simply doesn't resort to them. Having gotten along with Norrie well all these years, the 22-time Slam champion could not understand why he suddenly behaved the way he did on Tuesday.

But Djokovic went on to remark that he was not one to hold grudges over such trivial matters, and that he would leave what happened on the court, on the court.

"Those are the things that we players know in the locker room it's not fair play, it's not how we treat each other. But, again, it's allowed, so... I got along with Cameron really well all these years that he's been on the tour. Practiced with each other. He's very nice guy off the court, so I don't understand this kind of attitude on the court, to be honest," Djokovic said.

"But it is what it is. He brought the fire, and I responded to that. I'm not going to allow someone behaving like this just bending my head. I'm going to respond to that. That's all it is. What happens on the court, we leave it on the court, and we move on," he added.

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Novak Djokovic opens up about his pre-match medical treatment

International BNL d'Italia - Day Six

Prior to the start of his fourth-round clash against Cameron Norrie, Novak Djokovic had to undergo an unplanned medical treatment, which caused the start of the match to be delayed by a few minutes. While the Serb did not address exactly what the issue was at his press conference, he said it was nothing to be worried about and rubbished any concerns of a physical ailment.

"I had something, but don't want to talk about that too much. We had a late warmup today. The courts, practice courts, there were only two practice courts available to practice for so many players. It was not an ideal preparation for the match," Djokovic said.

"I finished my warmup 10 minutes before the match. It was cold. Try to do everything in time. That's it. I got the permission from supervisor to have an extra seven, eight minutes, and that's all it was," he added.