He may be the ‘King of Clay’, but its quite obvious that Rafael Nadal is not impressed with the time violation warnings that exist today. The nine time French Open champion strolled in to the quarter finals of the French Open, after he trashed Roberto Bautista Agut in straight sets. But the match was marred by controversy, as Nadal was not happy at receiving two warnings for time violation. In the post match press conference, Nadal mentioned how the umpires should understand that players are not machines, and so some leeway must be given to them.
“I remember this pressure in the past, because I take time before I serve. I have received pressure when I serve. Sometimes I feel I’m under pressure during the whole match.
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“If you want to play well, you have to let players breathe a little. We’re not machines. We’re not machines that cannot think. That’s my viewpoint.
“Of course I fully respect other views and other points of view. What else can I say? I’m telling you this with some type of sadness, because I don’t want to have any problems.
“But this umpire is, I think, trying, in a certain way, to look for my faults, my errors. This is the impression I have.
“What’s happened on the court will stay on the court. I respect him a lot.”
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“This week was very positive. My level was good throughout the match [against Bautista Agut]. I won quite easily. Therefore, this has given me quite a lot of confidence. I have the impression I’m doing things well. I’m on the right track,” he said.
“And yet I fully respect each opponent and I respect the tournament itself, and each situation, as well.
“It’s not because things go well for you that everything is going to continue like this. You have to be ready to take the moment when you’re down, the more difficult moments. You have to be ready so that you can react to bad moments that might happen.”
