Tennis fans were annoyed to see Rafael Nadal receive a time violation for arriving on the court four seconds late from a toilet break during his tie against Jason Kubler at Brisbane International 2024.
Nadal downed Kubler on Thursday, January 4, to book his place in the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 event in Brisbane. He raced to a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Kubler without breaking a sweat at the Pat Rafter Arena to register a second win on his comeback after nearly a year.
The Spaniard, however, faced a small hiccup during the one-hour-24-minute-long contest on Thursday. After winning the opening set, he went off the court for a toilet break for five minutes. However, he failed in a race against the clock by four seconds in returning to the court and was consequently awarded a warning by the chair umpire.
The official’s decision has invited mixed reactions from the tennis buffs on X (formerly Twitter). One user was reminded of Novak Djokovic taking long breaks during matches.
“Meanwhile Djokovic will do a full colonic cleanse to change match momentum if he is losing,” the user wrote.
Another user hinted at Djokovic, writing:
“Very funny. Imagine if it was a certain Serb.”
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