Rafael Nadal was furious when the umpire didn’t accept his attempt to challenge a call during his second-round match at the Madrid Open. The former world No. 1 led Alex De Minaur by a break when he stopped playing in the middle of a rally and circled one of his opponent’s shots. But Fergus Murphy explained that Nadal needed to clearly say challenge and the frustrated Spaniard demanded to see the supervisor, though his request was denied.
Playing a rematch of their Barcelona Open tie 10 days later, Nadal got off to a much stronger start against De Minaur as he broke immediately and let 2-0. But he was in some trouble on his own serve in the third game, trailing 15-30. The 37-year-old stopped in the middle of a rally and circled a ball, believing that one of the world No. 11’s shots had gone long.
However, with hawkeye challenges now in use at the Madrid Open, his gesture was not accepted as a challenge and the umpire awarded the point to De Minaur, calling the score as 15-40. Nadal immediately approached the chair to argue his case and raged as Murphy claimed that “just stopping” wasn’t enough.
“I did not see you making any challenge. You didn’t say anything. You have to use the system,” the umpire informed Nadal. The five-time Madrid Open champion replied: “I just stopped. I have to say challenge? Is that new?”
The umpire replied: “You just stopped, but you have to challenge, Rafa.” But Nadal protested that it was clear he wanted to challenge the call. “If I stop, I mark that ball that doesn’t mean I want to keep playing?” he retorted. Murphy remained firm in his decision, adding: “Rafael, what you need to do is challenge quickly. I saw you stopping but I didn’t see any challenge.”
Nadal then called the supervisor, but Murphy told him that they had to keep playing. “Okay, so I don’t want to keep playing,” the Spaniard said. “It’s your fault – if I stop and mark the ball – it’s your fault that you say that I want to keep playing, you not understanding.” As boos and whistles rang out through the Manolo Santana Stadium, the umpire responded: “But I saw everything, I just didn’t see you challenging. I need you to do something.”
The 22-time Major winner continued to plead his case. “I stopped, I do like this, that means I want to keep playing? That’s your understanding?” he asked, repeating his earlier gesture of ringing a mark around the ball.
“But we need a quick challenge, you have to do it quickly,” Murphy explained. A disgruntled Nadal eventually retreated to the baseline and continued playing but De Minaur managed to break and get back on serve.
The Australian broke Nadal for a second time to take a 4-3 advantage but the 37-year-old came storming back and immediately cancelled out De Minaur’s lead as the Spanish fans went into a frenzy.
Hawkeye on clay is a new introduction and Nadal, who is playing just his third official tournament since January 2023, was unaware that he needed to verbally ask for a challenge. Under the previous challenging system on clay, players needed to ring a mark around the ball and ask the umpire to come down to check it.
