Laura Robson and Tim Henman defend Cameron Norrie being called ‘s*** Andy Murray' at Australian Open

ByNigel Chiu

Updated 19/01/2023 at 20:04 GMT

Eurosport experts Laura Robson and Tim Henman have defended Cameron Norrie after fans gave him and Frenchman Constant Lestienne some unsavoury abuse during their second round match. The match took place late at night on court 13 due to weather delays and a rowdy group of fans chanted to Norrie, “You’re just a s*** Andy Murray”. Stream the 2023 Australian Open live on discovery+ and Eurosport.

Eurosport experts Laura Robson and Tim Henman have defended Cameron Norrie after fans called him a “s*** Andy Murray” during his second round win over Constant Lestienne.

Norrie overcame the challenge of Lestienne in four sets, 6-3 3-6 7-6(2) 6-3 in a match that finished at 01:28am local time in Melbourne.

However, he and his opponent faced unsavoury chants from some spectators, who were kicked out before the match ended.

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“They have clearly never watched tennis before because the two couldn't play any differently,” Robson told Eurosport about the incident.

“Cam's a real grinder - he dictates with his forehand. He's got that nudge backhand and he's an incredible mover. Whereas Andy's got that big serve to work with. He's much taller.

“In my mind I wouldn't even put them in the same category of a tennis player so maybe these guys need to do their homework before the next round.

“Hopefully they've learnt something. They've made the news - that's probably all that they wanted. I don't think Cam was bothered by it at all.”

Fans chant 'You're just a s*** Andy Murray!' at Norrie during match

The small minority of spectators also chanted “Constant’s going home!” towards Lestienne, who appeared to be affected by the shouts, as he hit an angry underarm serve into the net in the middle of the match.

On the other hand, Norrie was not fazed and took the incident in good humour in his press conference by saying with a smile: “I could still hear them in the second set.”

Henman suggested Norrie deserved more respect for his rise into the top 10 of the ATP rankings last season.

“Some fans were shouting some pretty unpleasant fans things at Cam and they ended up getting ejected from the stadium and rightly so,” said Henman. “For me, Cam is an absolute superstar.

Murray v Kokkinakis - Australian Open highlights

“He's progressed, he's improved his game so much, moving into the top 50, top 30, top 20 has already been in the top 10, winning the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells.

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“The performances he's had this year, I was lucky enough to be United Cup Captain in Sydney, where he took out De Minaur in front of his home crowd. He then took out Taylor Fritz and Rafael Nadal.

“When you're playing tennis of that quality, Cam you have got my support 100 per cent.”

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Stream the 2023 Australian Open live on discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.co.uk.

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