CAMERON NORRIE has issued an apology after angrily throwing his racquet into the stands and hitting a fan.
The former British No1 was battered 6-2 6-3 by Facundo Diaz Acosta in the first round of the Auckland Classic as his patchy form continues.
And after gifting his Argentine opponent a match point by duffing a forehand return into the net, Norrie tossed his racquet away.
It flew into the stands and struck a female fan – who was fortunately not hurt.
Norrie was given a stern warning but will face no further punishment.
In 2020, Novak Djokovic was controversially disqualified from the US Open for accidentally hitting a line judge with a ball.
Norrie – who has struggled for form since reaching the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 2022 – has apologised for the shocking incident.
The world No48 said: “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.
“She was laughing and I just said ‘so sorry, I didn’t mean to do that’.
“And she said ‘yeah, I’m completely OK’.
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“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.”
After missing a huge chunk of 2024 with injury, Norrie appeared to be rediscovering some form after reaching the quarter-finals of the Hong Kong Open.
But his preparations for the first Grand Slam of the season – the Australian Open – suffered a blow in New Zealand, the nation in which he grew up.
After the straight sets mauling in Auckland, Norrie will now fly to Melbourne.
The Australian Open begins on Sunday – with the ex-Brit No1 having never made it past the fourth round Down Under.
