Cameron Norrie accused of exploiting ‘ridiculous' rule at Wimbledon

 Wimbledon star Cameron Norrie stands accused of 'milking' a tennis loophole during Sunday's win over Nicolas Jarry. Norrie battled to a thrilling five-set victory over the big-serving Chilean but there was more than a hint of animosity after the Brit converted match point four and a half hours into the contest.

Jarry had complained to the chair umpire midway through the match about the amount of time Norrie was taking between his first and second serves. There were stern words exchanged between the two players in the immediate aftermath, with Norrie having to go over to Jarry's chair for the customary handshake after the defeated giant did not wait at the net.

Reflecting on Norrie's antics on Monday morning, former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash believes that the last Brit standing did go out of his way to exploit the 'ridiculous' absence of a shot clock between first and second serves.

Speaking on the BBC, the Aussie said: "They [the players] had a little natter about the ball bouncing. I don't know if he [Norrie] was trying to get some rest but the excessive ball bouncing was, well, excessive.

"I've never seen that before so maybe it was just the state he was in during the match. After the first serve you can sort of take as much time as you like, it's a sort of silly anomaly of the rules"You have to serve by a certain time on the shot clock, but as long as you get to the line and throw the ball in the air, you can take as much time as you like after that, which is ridiculous. Cam sort of milked that a bit. Maybe he was tired."

Cash's comments come the day after he defended Norrie for doing whatever it took to win. "I don't think Cam does it that extreme," he said. "Novak [Djokovic] used to bounce the ball 20 or 30 times. He is regrouping himself and that's the anomaly of the rule. I don't agree with quite a few of the silly rules of tennis that they have. But Norrie is within his rights to do so."

Norrie was under the impression that he had got on the wrong side of Jarry by being 'too vocal' throughout the match. But Jarry himself put his side across in his post-match press conference.

"I don't know the rules, so I was asking [the umpire] what I asked," he clarified. "He's very competitive, so he knows how to make the most of the important games in the important parts of the match."

Norrie has been rewarded for his gruelling victory with a quarter-final against world No.2 Carlos Alcaraz. Just as he did against Jarry, the 29-year-old may need to use every trick in the book to oust the reigning champion, who dispatched 14th seed Andrey Rublev in four sets last time out.