Tommy Paul criticizes Hugo Dellien's grunt in match against Cameron Norrie at Rio Open, calls it a "joke"
Tommy Paul disparaged Hugo Dellien's grunt in his match against Cameron Norrie in the Rio Open quarterfinals.
Following a final appearance at the Argentina Open, Cameron Norrie has enjoyed success at the Rio Open. He battled past Juan Manuel Cerundolo and Thiago Monteiro in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals. He faltered in the first set against Hugo Dellien, losing 6-4. However, he then fought back and took the second set commandingly. In the final set, Norrie held his nerve and eventually won the match 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.
In a clip posted by TennisTV, Dellien can be seen grunting loudly during a tense rally with Norrie.
Tommy Paul shared the clip to his Instagram story and called Hugo Dellien's distracting grunt a "joke."
"Thought this grunt was a joke," he wrote.
Cameron Norrie will face Bernabe Zapata Miralles in the Rio Open semifinals
In the post-match interview, Cameron Norrie acknowledged that he didn't start the match well and was missing a lot of returns. He also stated that he wasn't playing as physically as he wanted to. However, he made adjustments and focused on being patient with himself after the first set.
Despite some uncharacteristic errors, he hung in there and stepped up when needed. Norrie also felt that he hit his spots better than the previous day and acknowledged that Dellien's pressure on his second serve caused him to hit some double faults. Nonetheless, Norrie was not worried about it and planned to come out stronger in his next match.
"I didn't start too well, was missing a lot of returns and not making points physical like I wanted to.[After the first set] I needed to be patient with myself. I'm not sure what happened but I didn't make a lot of returns and missed a couple of first balls on my serve, which is uncharacteristic. I just hung in there and stepped it up when I needed to," Norrie said
"I felt I hit my spots better than I did yesterday,” Norrie said. “I had a couple of double faults but he was really putting a lot of pressure on my second and maybe I went after it a little too much. But I'm not worried about it. I just need to come out a little stronger tomorrow and make it more physical like I did in Thiago in the second round," he added.
Up next, Cameron Norrie will take on Bernabe Zapata Miralles in the semifinals. With Carlos Alcaraz also through to the semifinals, the pair are on course to face each other in consecutive finals after the Spaniard emerged victorious at the Argentina Open.