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.
