Rafael Nadal (left) shakes hands with Cameron Norrie after winning third round match of the 2021 French Open at Roland Garros on Saturday (June 05, 2021).
There has been no stopping Rafael Nadal at his bastion French Open this season as the 13-time tournament champion pulled off another comfortable three-set victory over World No. 45 Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to reach the fourth round.
However, the match, had its moment of controversy when Nadal's British rival made a complaint to the chair umpire, blaming the Spanish star for taking too much time in between points; an accusation that he has faced often in the past. Several players have accused the 20-time Grand Slam champion of the same that included the infamous rant of Nick Kyrgios at Wimbledon 2019.
In the post-match press conference after the match, Nadal didn't deny the accusation saying there were no ball boys during the match (due to the COVID-19 rules), forcing him to fetch the ball himself and that should allow him to go for the towel sometimes. However, he added that he didn't do such a thing often.
"We don't have ball boys to pick up the towels and they're far away. So it takes a while to get to them. I think I deserve to go for the towel sometime between points, and I don't think I do it that often either," the 35-year-old southpaw said.
He further added that Norrie tried his best to put pressure on him by playing mind games and that Nadal didn't make a fuss about Norrie purportedly throwing the ball wrong 20 times during his services.
"I think that he intended to speed things up to put a little pressure on me. I didn't complain at all when he threw the ball wrong to serve 20 times, so I don't think he had to complain about other things. The chair umpire told me that he will try to be faster and I did. I was respectful and so was he. He played his cards, that's all," Nadal said.
