Novak Djokovic had his patience tested by Cam Norrie, and he may need it again versus Holger Rune

INTERVIEW IN ROME: Holger Rune on his upcoming clash with Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic arrived in Rome this year hoping not just to defend his title, but to use the clay courts at the Foro Italico as his personal French Open training ground. Before last week, he had played just four matches on clay this spring, and had won just two of them. That’s not ideal preparation for a man who is hoping to become the all-time men’s Grand Slam title leader next month in Paris.

“I would love to play a maximum amount of matches in this tournament,” Djokovic said after beating Grigor Dimitrov on Sunday. “That’s why I’m here.”

So far, so good. In his first round, against young Argentine dirt-baller Tomas Etcheverry, Djokovic eased into the first set, and played just well enough, at just the right times, to escape with it in a tiebreaker. In his second round, he dropped a set to Dimitrov before bouncing back to win a strong 6-1 decider. While I doubt it’s actually the case, sometimes it seems as if Djokovic orchestrates these early-rounders to force himself to face just enough adversity to make the victory useful in the long term.

In that sense, Djokovic’s win over Cam Norrie on Tuesday was the ideal next step in his process, even if he didn’t see it that way while it was happening. Djokovic had to run a fair amount and stay in long rallies. He had to win points with good shots of his own—including a beauty of a sliding slice-forehand pass from the corner—rather than waiting for the pesky Norrie to miss. And he had to break and hold from 4-4 in the second set to close out the 6-3, 6-4 win.

What was tested more than anything else, though, was Djokovic’s patience.

Those are the things that we players know in the locker room it’s not fair play, it’s not how we treat each other. But, again, it’s allowed, so… Novak Djokovic on Cam Norrie

It started with Norrie’s relentless “Come on!”s and fist-pumps after every successful point. By the fourth game, Djokovic was already clearly bothered by it, and had started to bellow his own, louder “come onnnnnn!”s back in Norrie’s direction.

That irritation escalated in a hurry early in the second set, when Norrie hit Djokovic in the leg with an overhead, after Djokovic had turned his back and essentially conceded a point. Djokovic snapped his head around and threw Norrie a stare, as the Brit raised his hand and said he was sorry as he walked away. That wasn’t enough for Djokovic, who kept walking toward the net, and kept staring. He even threw Norrie a glance as they walked toward their chair on the changeover, which drew gleeful whistles from the Centrale crowd.

Norrie topped off his day of wind-ups by asking for the trainer, and receiving a medical time-out, just as Djokovic was about to serve for the match. By then, though, Djokovic seemed to have control of frustrations, and while he may have been seething inside, he came back from 0-30 down to hold for the match. The day ended with a fittingly icy and silent hand-shake from the winner, who was annoyed enough to call Norrie out in his press conference.

“From the very beginning, I don’t know, he was doing all the things that were allowed,” Djokovic said. “He’s allowed to take a medical timeout. He’s allowed to hit a player. He’s allowed to say ‘c’mon’ in the face more or less every single point from basically first game.

“Those are the things that we players know in the locker room it’s not fair play, it’s not how we treat each other. But, again, it’s allowed, so…”

Djokovic said he didn’t “understand this attitude on the court” from Norrie. But he was pleased with his own I-won’t-back-down response.

“He brought the fire, and I responded to that,” he said. “I’m not going to allow someone behaving like this bending my head.”

Djokovic typically has his eyes on a bigger prize when he’s in Rome. Were his words about Norrie a warning to his next opponent, Holger Rune—who is even more famous for getting under opponents’ skins, and who beat Djokovic in their most recent meeting, last fall at the Paris Masters?

I doubt it, but the test of patience that Djokovic experienced on Tuesday may help him on Wednesday.

“Nice guy, I get along well with him,” Djokovic said of Rune, in understated fashion. “On the court, obviously, we certainly want to win against each other.”