Brisbane crowd laughs as Rafael Nadal hilariously explains toilet time penalty

Rafael Nadal had two very funny moments during his Brisbane International round-of-16 match after being hit with a time violation warning for not returning in time from his toilet break.

After winning the first set against Australia’s Jason Kubler with a 6-1 scoreline, the 22-time Grand Slam champion took a toilet break. When Nadal returned to the court, the chair umpire alerted him that he was about to give him a time violation because he exceeded the allowed five minutes. After initially arguing with the chair umpire, Nadal accepted it and started smiling as he was being called on a time violation for being “a little bit late from his toilet break.”

“Rafael Nadal was a little bit late coming back from the toilet” 😂@RafaelNadal with an unusual time violation in Brisbane! #BrisbaneTennis pic.twitter.com/ELLGoQ6iez

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) January 4, 2024

That particular moment didn’t have any negative impact or whatsoever on Nadal, who went on to beat Kubler 6-1 6-2.

Nadal explains what happened, the Brisbane crowd laughs and smiles 

“Well… I think it was something strange because I know I have five minutes. 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…” Nadal said in his on-court interview. Also, Nadal added he thought that he had returned at “the right time” but also acknowledged that he tends to be “slow” at times.

Rafael Nadal explaining why he received a time violation warning after the toilet break is PURE GOLD. 😭 pic.twitter.com/KR6a7tV6Sh

— Relevant Tennis (@RelevantTennis) January 4, 2024

Jokes aside, Nadal delivered a great performance against Kubler. After clinching a straight-set win over Dominic Thiem in his first match back, Nadal also earned a very routine victory over Kubler to reach the Brisbane quarterfinal.

Nadal made a furious start against Kubler, breaking the Australian in the second and fourth games en route to winning the first five games of the match. In the seventh game – the game in which Nadal was serving for the set – Kubler had three consecutive break points but Nadal saved them all before converting his first set point to clinch the opener.

After winning the first set, Nadal also fairly easily won the second set after breaking Kubler in the first and seventh games to complete a two-set win and set up a Brisbane quarterfinal against Jordan Thompson.