“I said ‘so sorry – I didn’t mean to do that’. And she said ‘yeah I’m completely okay and she was enjoying her champagne or whatever [so] not a big deal, but as you saw with some other players you can easily be defaulted if it catches them in the wrong spot or they are not looking or something. I was not meaning to do that and it is completely not me, to do something like that, I apologised very quickly and I want to apologise in general, I’m not happy with how I behaved.”

Fans took to social media to voice outrage at the incident, alleging it is not the first time they have seen the former New Zealand representative’s racquet leave his hand in frustration and calling for a harsher punishment.

Norrie was issued a code violation by the umpire – for unsportsmanlike conduct. He said he wasn’t concerned about being defaulted, even though there is provision in the ATP rules if a racquet or ball hits a spectator, dependent on the circumstances.

“No, it barely touched her and she was laughing,” explained Norrie. I wasn’t meaning to do that but still not ideal to be doing that and I’ve never done something like that so definitely a wake-up call.

Norrie was raised in Auckland after moving from South Africa before announcing he would represent Great Britain in future.

It was his ninth appearance at the ASB Classic, where he reached the final in 2019 and 2023, and is ranked outside the top 50 after a year of tough results and the most significant injury since he went professional, with a torn bicep muscle that took him off the circuit for three months.