"He wasn't breaking any rules": Norrie has right to 'do what he wants in Djokovic situation according to Roddick

Cameron Norrie irritated Novak Djokovic greatly during their recent clash at the Rome Open but according to Andy Roddick nothing that Norrie did was unfair.

Norrie was very pumped for his match against Djokovic shouting out come on pretty much all the time. He was also very vocal and animated during the rallies and even hit Djokovic with an overhead smash. None of that was well received by Djokovic who stared down Norrie after getting hit but was more open to accept after the match that it wasn't intentional.

The overall impression Djokovic had was that Norrie was behaving rather unfairly going against the 'code' of tennis. Talking about the matchup on the Tennis Channel, Roddick said that all of it was fair but Djokovic has a right to not like it:

“It’s fair play. Norrie has every right to do what he wants and Novak has every right to not like it. He wasn’t breaking any rules. I’ve gotten in trouble for criticising people for taking medical timeouts a little too often. Novak said that he looked at the replay and said that maybe Norrie didn’t see him with his back turned. So Novak understands hitting a ball where you’re not supposed to, sometimes."

He continued:

“Listen, it doesn’t matter. Norrie can do what he wants, Novak cannot like it, we wash our hands, and we move on. Novak got the win and it’s over. Or we stay mad about it, which makes no sense at all. He didn’t break any rules, he was obviously trying to do something because he was not winning with the patterns that were being played on the court. So he tried to change the dynamic of the match. Novak is just way too experienced, he has seen it too many times. You’re going to blame a guy for trying? You don’t have to like it but he was trying something.”