Cameron Norrie was involved in ugly post-match scenes after notching his first ATP Tour win since July. The former Wimbledon semi-finalist ended a four-game losing streak by battling back to beat Roberto Carballes Baena at the Moselle Open in Metz.
Trailing by a set and a break, the 29-year-old dug deep to come through 3-6 6-4 6-3, and his relief was evident after he sealed victory with a forehand winner.
But just moments later, the British No.2 was angrily confronted by his Spanish opponent, who was seemingly unhappy with Norrie’s celebrations over the course of the match.
With the score at 2-2 and deuce in the second set, Carballes Baena handed Norrie a break point with an unforced error. Norrie reacted by pumping his fist and shouting loudly, with his rival reacting by smiling and shaking his head.
Norrie was also emotional after converting match point, and as he had done during the action, he yelled ‘vamos’ before approaching the net to shake the hand of his opponent. After a frosty exchange though, the pair began arguing as they left the court.
At one point, Norrie was heard saying: “Your complaining about me saying vamos a couple of times.” After standing with his arms outstretched, the former world No.8 then returned to his seat.
That wasn’t the end of the matter though with Carballes Baena, who had also gone back to his chair, getting back up on his feet to continue the row. “You say vamos all the time, look at my face (when I talk),” he ranted.
Norrie protested his shouts were aimed at himself, and were not a ploy to upset the 31-year-old. “I was playing so badly so I had to fire myself up,” he replied. “Come on man, come one.”
And in his post-match interview, he doubled down on his explanation, saying: “I wasn’t playing well, I was trying to get myself fired up. I couldn’t be much worse than I was so tried to get fired up and apparently he was not happy with me saying vamos a couple of times. Then I stopped doing it and started playing better, so yeah.”
After missing a host of tournaments with a forearm injury in the summer, Norrie also expressed his satisfaction at making it through to round two. It was his first victory since beating Jozef Kovalik in the first round of the Swedish Open.
“I was happy with the way I turned it around, and it’s nice to get a win,” he added. Norrie will now face Bulgarian world No.10 Grigor Dimitrov on Wednesday.
