‘He must be punished,’ John McEnroe lashes out on Rafael Nadal for taking ‘too much’ time for his serve preparation, terms the whole situation a ‘joke’
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John McEnroe and Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal came out the victor in the much-awaited quarterfinal clash against Novak Djokovic at the 2022 French Open. In their 59th meeting, Nadal defeated Djokovic in four sets 6-2,4-6,6-2,7-6(4) to reach a record 15th semifinal at Roland Garros. Amidst Nadal’s historic win, a lot is once again talked about Nadal’s serve time.
As accused for the majority of his career, Nadal was seen taking a lot of time between his first and second serve. While Nadal defends himself by saying that he sweats too much and hence requires a few extra seconds, his opponents often find it frustrating to deal with Nadal’s service times.
Tennis legend John McEnroe called out Nadal’s serve time abnormality in the Eurosport studio. McEnroe is often deemed to favor Djokovic all the time. He even lashed out at fans who weren’t particularly booing the Serb but still, McEnroe called them out.
“This is nonsense, this is really nonsense! Come on people, stop, what are you doing, this man is a picture of our sport. He is going to a match that we may never watch again, and you are doing it,” McEnroe said.
‘It’s like he’s joking with everyone’: John McEnroe on Rafael Nadal’s serve time
He then stated that Nadal must be punished for his actions when he saw Nadal taking too much time in between serves. He said that Nadal is joking with everyone as if he’s going to the end of the garden.
“Nadal must be punished for this. It’s like he’s joking with everyone. It’s funny, now he’s looking at the clock again. He’s going to the end of the garden again,” McEnroe said.
“Don’t they have 15 seconds on the second serve? Or how much already? It doesn’t matter, take as much time as you need … So how long will this game last. Jesus, the referee answered, and Nadal ignores him,” McEnroe added.
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Lakshya Chopra
(2595 Articles Published)