Nicolas Jarry refused to go into details when asked why he was so upset with Cameron Norrie during their match at Wimbledon. Norrie beat the Chilean over five sets on Sunday, in a match that had plenty of needle, to set up a last-16 clash against Carlos Alcaraz.
It took Norrie four hours and 27 minutes to see off Jarry 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (7-9), 6-7 (5-7), 6-3. The Brit had a match point in the third set, but could not take it and was forced to battle it out against his big-serving opponent on Court One.
And while there was plenty of entertainment for the home crowd to enjoy, there was also an obvious undercurrent between the two players. Jarry was seen remonstrating with the chair umpire, having been rattled by the amount of time Norrie was taking over his second serve.
There is a shot clock players have to adhere to for their first serve, but not the second and Norrie later admitted he was deliberately taking his time to compose himself. “Is it normal to do that when it affects the other player?” Jarry asked the umpire. “Do you have to intervene, or do I have to suck it?”
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“Because he can stop doing it. It is not something like a nervous tick. It is something he can control.” Later, to emphasise his point, Jarry bounced the ball 23 times before a second serve, only to double fault.
There were some tense words after the match point, but Jarry refused to divulge what he said to his opponent. “It's just something private that I wanted to tell him,” he told reporters. “That it was a great match. He played very, very good. He didn't give me chances. He deserved to win. All the best luck for the future.”
Pressed on his complaint about Norrie’s second serve, he admitted: “I don't know the rules, so I was asking what I asked.”
Norrie was delighted to come through such a tough match and he was more illuminating when asked about what was said on-court. “I just told him, ‘Man, that was an unbelievable level. You competed so well, and I loved the way you kind of responded’. It was such a good match,” he said.
“The atmosphere was really good. I think, yeah, he just said I was being a little bit too vocal, but I was aiming directly at my team and pulling from the crowd. The atmosphere of the court was so, so good. Honestly, nothing but credit to Nico for his performance.”
Asked about his second serve routine, Norrie added: “For me, I wanted to take my time on the second serve and making sure that I'm getting myself ready to set. I actually didn't even notice he was upset with that. Yeah, I want to settle before I hit my second serve. I don't want to rush into it and hit a quick double [fault].”
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