Tennis player Cameron Norrie let his emotions get the better of him during his match today at the ASB Classic in New Zealand. But in throwing his racket behind him in frustration, he inadvertently hit a spectator in the first row of the stands.
The 29-year-old was on the verge of losing the second set against Argentina's Facundo Díaz Acosta when he hit a ball into the net, prompting him to fling his racket into the stands without looking back. It went straight for a woman's face but she was able to block it with her hands at the last second.
Norrie wasted little time in apologizing to the fan, explaining after the match that he immediately acknowledged his wrongdoing. "[The fan] was laughing, and I just said, ‘So sorry, I didn’t mean to do that,'" the New Zealand native said, per OutKick. "And she said, 'Yeah, I’m completely OK.' That was not a big deal."
Cam Norrie forced this spectator to take evasive action after throwing his racquet into the stands at the Auckland Open. ???? pic.twitter.com/F0CRaY73T7
— Eurosport (@eurosport) January 7, 2025
He went on to point out that it's not in his character to lose his cool as he did in the moment.
"It is completely not me to do something like that," he said, per CBS News. "I apologized very quickly, and I want to apologize in general. I’m not happy with how I behaved."
"It was definitely a wake-up call," he later confessed to Radio New Zealand. "I wanted to come here and play well, and it ended up being the complete opposite."
Related: Japanese Tennis Star Yoshihito Nishioka Apologizes After On-Court Meltdown
Díaz Acosta ended up winning the match for his first victory over Norrie in their three matches to date.
