John McEnroe calls out Cam Norrie for 'weird' behaviour against Carlos Alcaraz

Cameron Norrie has been called out by John McEnroe for saying 'vamos' despite not being Spanish. The Brit celebrated some of his points in Tuesday's defeat to Carlos Alcaraz with the phrase which translates to 'let's go' in his opponent's native language.

In a one-sided Wimbledon quarter-final battle, Norrie was instantly put under the cosh by Alcaraz, who stormed the first set 6-2 and swiftly went 3-1 up in the second. During a tight game on Norrie's serve, he celebrated Alcaraz going long by shouting 'vamos'. Evidently confused upon hearing a positive Spanish phrase on a point Alcaraz lost, McEnroe queried: "Was that Norrie saying 'vamos'?"

After a long pause, the American added while on BBC commentary duties: "It's weird for a guy that was born in South Africa, grew up in New Zealand and is a Brit, that he's saying vamos."

What McEnroe may not have realised is that Norrie is coached by an Argentine named Facundo Lugones, which could go some way towards explaining his unusual quirk.

That's not to say it has not riled up opponents in the past, though. Norrie was given an earful by Spanish player Roberto Carballes Baena after a match last November in which he repeatedly shouted 'vamos'.

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After a fiery post-match exchange, Norrie explained in his on-court interview: "I wasn't playing well, I was trying to get myself fired up. I couldn't be much worse than I was so tried to get fired up and apparently he was not happy with me saying vamos a couple of times. Then I stopped doing it and started playing better, so yeah."

Norrie has also been pulled up by fans for saying 'allez', the French version of 'vamos', in the past. His dabbles in Spanish didn't help him much against Alcaraz, as the world No.2 raced dominated in a straight-sets win on Centre Court.

After a taxing five-set win over Nicolas Jarry in the fourth round, Norrie was subjected to a brutal onslaught in a 6-2 first set, a 6-3 second and a 6-3 third. Alcaraz has been growing into the tournament after an opening-round scare against Fabio Fognini.

He blitzed British rookie Oliver Tarvet in the second round before notching successive four-set victories over Jan-Lennard Struff in the third and Andrey Rublev in the fourth. Alcaraz is going for a third consecutive Wimbledon crown after clinching the men's title in 2023 and 2024.