"When Nadal clocked him, he reacted like 'How dare you?'" - Andy Murray reacts to Novak Djokovic hitting Roger Federer at Shanghai Masters 2014

Andy Murray has reacted to Novak Djokovic's seemingly hypocritical stance on players hitting balls directly at their opponent during points and cited a video of the Serb hitting a shot at Roger Federer during the 2014 Shanghai Masters.

Murray made his comment on a video shared on social media where Novak Djokovic plays his shot directly at the Swiss, who is stationed at the net, during their encounter in Shanghai. Federer, who did not react aggressively to Djokovic's shot, went on to win the match 6-4, 6-4. The caption of the video asked,

"Legitimate play?"

Reacting to it, Andy Murray said it is completely fair for players to hit shots like these. However, he questioned the current World No. 1 on his stance on the issue. Murray mentioned incidents in the past when Djokovic got extremely upset with his opponents when they played a shot that hit him.

"Totally legitimate play. Great shot. However, when Rafa clocked him in Canada and Norrie in Rome he reacted like "how dare you?" Murray wrote on Instagram.

Screengrab from Instagram

The first incident Murray recalled in his comment dates back to the 2013 Canadian Open, when Rafael Nadal's shot hit Novak Djokovic in the face. While the Spaniard apologized, Djokovic gave Nadal a chilling stare. Nadal went on to win the match 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (2).

The second incident happened at the 2023 Italian Open, when Murray's fellow British player Cameron Norrie hit a smash at Djokovic's leg. While Norrie was apologetic for his hit, the 24-time Grand Slam champion seemed agitated.

Andy Murray bows out of 2023 China Open in the first round

Andy Murray after losing in China Open R1

Andy Murray is currently in China and competed in the ATP 500 China Open in Beijing. However, his stay in the competition ended in the opening round itself, as he lost to Australia's Alex de Minaur, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(6), on September 28. This was Murray's fourth consecutive loss against De Minaur.

The 36-year-old was enraged after squandering three match points. He smashed his racquet in anger and pushed a TV camera out of his way while leaving the court. Murray was penalized with a code violation for repeatedly smashing his racquet on the ground.

Currently ranked World No. 40, Andy Murray will next play at the WTA 1000 Shanghai Masters, due to start on October 4. The former World No. 1 has not had any impressive victories of late. He bowed out of the Wimbledon and US Open in the second round and was defeated by Arslan Karatsev in the Zhuhai Championships second round last week.