Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Cam unstuck
BRIT NORRIE CRASHES OUT... BUT IT’S EVEN WORSE FOR THE FRENCH
CAM NORRIE crashed out of Roland Garros – and the only consolation was that the British No.1 lasted longer in Paris than any of the French.
The Wimbledon semifinalist was outclassed on the clay by Italian 21-year-old Lorenzo Musetti in a little over two hours.
Norrie tamed raucous French crowds in his first two matches – and courted controversy when his grunting got him a hindrance call and he won a point after a double bounce. But this match was a non-contest and a nonevent. Norrie fought back from 1-3 down in the third set and had the chance to lead 5-3. But he had his serve broken six times while he made his only break after one hour and 42 minutes before losing 6-1 6-2 6-4.
There were only three Brits in the singles here and the London-based star is the last to leave. All 27 French singles players had lost by the second round – and Norrie beat two of them.
But the No.14 seed has now lost in the third round here for three consecutive years – starting with
Rafa Nadal – and he was beaten on the same Court Simonemathieu here last year by Karen Khachanov.
Norrie, who has lost momentum after a strong start to the year, has some serious work to do before Wimbledon starts on July 3.
Musetti, the 17th seed, could hardly contain his delight. “I am really, really full of joy. It was a really well-played match,” he said.
Musetti (below) hasn’t lost a set at Roland Garros this year and, in his last two matches, he has lost a total of just 11 games. He’s clearly going to take some stopping. Earlier, Novak Djokovic branded the French crowd “disrespectful” after he was booed during his win over Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
The Wimbledon champion needed three hours and 26 minutes to see off the No.29 seed 7-6 7-6 6-2 – his longest straight-sets win in a Grand Slam match.
But the Serbian was jeered when he took a medical time-out at the end of the second set to receive massage on his left thigh. He reacted by sarcastically giving a thumbsup and clapping in response. Djokovic, who is never far from controversy, said: “The majority of the people come to enjoy tennis or support one player or the other. But there are people that love to boo every single thing you do.
“That’s something that I find disrespectful and I frankly don’t understand that. But it’s their right. They paid for the ticket. They can do whatever they want.
“Actually, 99 percent of the time I will stay quiet but sometimes I will oppose that because, when somebody is disrespectful, he or she deserves to have an answer.”
Asked about his latest injury, the 22-time Grand Slam winner said: “We don’t have much time to start to name the many injuries I have – the list is quite long. I still kept on playing.”