Heads and Shoulders versus Knees and Toes

A few people have called me out this weekend for not taking a firm stand on the incident I wrote about in “Conceding the Point” on Friday. For those of you that missed it, Cam Norrie hit Novak Djokovic with a sitter overhead after he turned his back, signaling that he was conceding the point. Djokovic fans were apoplectic that Norrie’s shot hit Djokovic. Norrie fans argued back that he could not have possibly seen that Djokovic had turned his back.

I choose… none of the above. Instead, I will share that my thinking is heavily influenced by two other unwritten rules of tennis that I hold to be self evident. First, if a player’s movement on the court takes them into the path of the ball that hits them, that’s on them. In Djokovic’s case after he turned his back to concede the point he walked toward the center of the court which is the precise location for Norrie to hit the “safe” shot.

It is the same underlying principle if the service returner hits a poaching net player with a hard cross court. A poach is by very definition a surprise that is designed to keep the service returner off balance. It isn’t reasonable to expect that player to “know” that the net player is about to move into the path of their shot.

The second factor that influences my thinking is where Norrie’s shot contacted Djokovic. There is a world of difference between getting hit above the belt versus below the knees. Hitting the ball at a player’s feet is a legitimately good shot in tennis creating a reflex volley or half volley that is difficult to return at all and impossible to play aggressively.

If Norrie’s shot had hit Djokovic near the head or shoulders, then that shot would have been clearly out of line. There would have been no tactical reason for his shot to be played in that location other than to send a message. As it was, the shot at Djokovic’s feet was the the correct shot in that tactical situation. Getting hit below the knees can never he confused with a shot aimed at a player’s head.

Djokovic made it clear during the post-match press that he was irritated with Norrie on a variety of fronts. That included taking a medical timeout, his collegiate style fist pumping, and of course the actual shot that sparked this series of posts this weekend. I tried to find post-match comments about the incident from Norrie, but if anybody bothered to ask him the question, no one wrote about the answer. Additionally, I could not find any video or transcripts from interviews with Norrie.

I am a fan of Cam Norrie from watching him play for Texas Christian University, where I also attended graduate school. As a fan of collegiate tennis and Norrie in particular, I don’t mind the collegiate style exhortations in professional tennis. If anything, I think that it is good for tour level tennis which is struggling to attract viewership and fan engagement.

Additionally, watching Djokovic’s post-match critique of Norrie’s lack of “fair play” did little to sway my opinion. In fact, Djokovic takes medical timeouts and is fairly intense on court as well. He exhorts the crowd in his own way. This certainly isn’t the first time Djokovic has exhibited sanctimonious attitudes toward things that he has been known do do himself.

Recognizing that I am a natural “homer” for Norrie was what led me to focus on the unwritten rules of tennis rather than my personal opinion on the incident. However, I am very much in the camp that the most plausible explanation for the shot is that he either did not see Djokovic turn his back or did not expect him to step into the path of the ball. He clearly wasn’t head-hunting, and hit a tactically reasonable shot.