Novak Djokovic was lower than happy with Cameron Norrie when the Brit unintentionally hit him with the ball throughout their Rome Masters conflict. The prime seed gave the world No 13 a demise stare as commentators referred to as Norrie out for his "unnecessary" determination.

Djokovic and Norrie's round-of-16 conflict acquired tense because the Brit broke the world No 1 for the primary time within the match. The thirteenth seed was a set and break down early within the second set when he lastly had two break factors at 1-2.

On the second, the Serb deserted a degree when he realised he was about to lose it, with Norrie having the courtroom vast open for a smash. As Djokovic walked again to the baseline, the Brit dumped the ball proper into his opponent's ankles - prompting the 35-year-old to whip his head round and provides his opponent a demise stare.

Commentators audibly gasped on the incident as Djokovic approached the web to stare down on the different facet of the courtroom whereas Norrie put his hand as much as apologise. But Mark Petchey referred to as Norrie out for selecting to hit the ball on the prime seed when the entire courtroom was free.

"Well I’ve got to say in Novak’s defence here, he had given up the point. That ball didn’t need to go anywhere near him," Mark Petchey mentioned on Prime. The pundit additionally questioned whether or not the delay initially of the match contributed to frustration for Norrie, who needed to look forward to Djokovic to complete his remedy.

"And there obviously is a lot between the two of them whether it’s the start or whatever, but here is what happened," he continued. "And if you watch it I mean it’s a brilliant get from Novak, it was a terrific drop shot from Cam. But Novak has turned his back here, I mean it’s not as though Cam needs to worry about him picking it up.

"I simply don’t know what was going via Cam’s thoughts to be sincere, it's sort of pointless. And I can guarantee you if it was across the different means, he wouldn’t have favored it both. So you'll be able to perceive this response from Novak."

Djokovic went on to win the match 6-3 6-4 and Petchey doubled down on his comments afterwards, saying: "Look, I’m certain he was irritated to some extent that he was delayed, he’s someone that’s sort of jacked up and able to go however that is the place it occurred.

"I mean, there will be some people that say Novak shouldn’t have turned his back. But to be honest, in tennis, that’s a sign that you’ve given the point up. You can put it anywhere you want, you can roll it over, I’m not going to steal the point back. I know Cam was looking at the ball but I kind of know as a tennis player, you know where your opponent is in that moment.

"And he’ll most likely have somewhat little bit of remorse that he did that however within the warmth of the second possibly he simply needed the purpose so badly that he sort of misplaced his means a bit. But I do suppose what was pointless personally."

Meanwhile, Nick Lester remarked that Djokovic's reaction was also likely down to Norrie's half-hearted attempt of an apology, as he gave a brief wave. "I feel the irritation from Djokovic's viewpoint is that it was a reasonably transient apology," he said.

Petchey agreed and added: "He was ready for one thing a bit extra. He would've been OK I feel, and there you'll be able to see on the finish he gave him the no-look handshake which was fairly apparent that it was going to come back. I questioned whether or not Cam was really going to apologise at that time for that second however by the truth that he hasn't apologised for it twice, then you recognize he meant it."