Rafael Nadal explained that he had to change all his clothes during his straight-sets victory over Jason Kubler to advance to the Brisbane International quarter-finals, leaving the crowd in stitches at his explanation. The 22-time Grand Slam winner was given a time violation warning after the first set for taking too long in the bathroom.
Nadal returned to the court after taking the first set 6-1 and looked bemused when the umpire warned him for exceeding the allotted five minutes to take a bathroom break.
The 37-year-old initially argued the decision but left the conversation smiling and laughing, before taking the second set 6-2 to continue his impressive return from a near-year-long injury in Australia.
However, after the match Nadal explained that he was not using the bathroom and instead had to get undressed and change his entire outfit due to the Brisbane humidity.
“Well… I think it was something strange because I know I have five minutes,” he told Sky Sports as the crowd chuckled along. “Honestly, Brisbane is very humid and I had to change every single piece (of clothing). It takes a while and then honestly on the walkie-talkie they were calling me, three minutes, two minutes, one minute, half a minute…
“And I came out at the right time but probably the guy who was with me said a few seconds later to the umpire that I was… they told me four seconds late… I don’t know if it was me. I thought I was on time, honestly. But something happened and I know I am slow, I am going to try and improve.”
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