At the Madrid Masters in May this year, Alexander Zverev was about to serve to his opponent Stefanos Tsitsipas when he looked up and found that Stefanos was nowhere to be found.
Stefanos took a little extra time after a point and went for the towel at the back of the court even though it seems to be a tennis rule that the receiver must play to the server's tune.
On this particular occasion, however, the receiver was not ready so the server walked away from the baseline rather than simply wait and watch, because you see in tennis, that's what happens.
It's an ego thing where players like to have the upper hand and when a player is not 'bowing' to the opposition's 'requirements', well many players will walk away and come back when the opponent is ready, rather than stand there and wait.
Again, it's an ego thing.
That's tennis.
In this particular match, the umpire made quite possibly the dumbest call I have ever witnessed, he gave the server, Zverev a time violation for not serving within the allotted 25 seconds, even though it was an impossibility due to the simple fact that his opponent was not ready.
It was no surprise to see Zverev take on the umpire and state his case that he was actually ready to serve some 15 seconds before. A player can only do so much in a match as it's rather obvious, if the opponent is not ready, well, not a lot can happen.
It's interesting to note that in another match in Madrid, the biggest tennis time-waster on the planet, Rafael Nadal was timed at 56 SECONDS between serves, yet no time violation was given.
Why not?
Because it's Rafa, the legend.
Umpires are reluctant to get on the wrong side of him due to his status and the fact that they may just get an unwanted paragraph or two in the Spaniard's next Biography.
Fast forward to Wimbledon this year.
On more than one occasion Rafa made Nick Kyrgios wait while he got everything in place before he received another NK bomb. Quite rightly NK had words with the umpire and explained that the receiver must play to the server's tune.
When the umpire calls time, most players are up and about, not so the case with Rafa, he will quite often take another 30 seconds or so while he drops his water bottles in place or places his towel strategically on the chair.
The opponent waits.
Rafa's opponents ALWAYS have to wait.
So to Cincinnati this week.
The verbal stoush between Nick K and the umpire started when NK was given a time violation for taking just a few more seconds than what he should have done, though common sense surely should have taken precedence here.
Nick Kyrgios would have to be the FASTEST player on tour between points, no risk.
The violation ticked Nick off to such an extent that he forgot he was in a tennis match as he spent more time talking to the umpire than he did in focusing on trying to beat Kachanov.
After the match which the Aussie lost in three sets, NK posted a video of him taking 28 seconds to serve, which is indeed a long time for the Aussie to deliver, though the adjoining video of Rafa taking 41 seconds to serve quite strangely went unpunished.
So what is it then?
Do the ATP umpires turn a blind eye to Rafa simply because his trophy cabinet is larger than the rest and is NK being targeted simply because he is a bit of a live wire and they know it will send him over the edge?
Are they trying to send him over the edge??
Nick Kyrgios has definitely got a bee in his bonnet about Rafa, that's obvious, though I do believe he has a valid point as there are TWO RULES, one for the Spanish legend and one for everyone else.
The ATP needs to educate their umpires on what they are in fact doing in a tennis match because it's not really that hard to do when you really look at it.
Forget who is playing, legend or backyard hack, keep the time, look at the shot clock, call a time violation if a player goes over the allotted time on a regular basis or they could just use a bit of common sense.
If a player who regularly plays quickly has a few seconds here and there over the available 25 seconds then maybe, just maybe that player could be afforded a few seconds luxury without being given a violation.
Surely an ATP umpire should own enough intelligence to work the angles on this one.
Rafa took 41 and 56 seconds between points on two occasions at different events and nothing gets said.
NK gets a warning at 28 seconds.
You gotta be joking, or as the great Jonny Mac once said 'You cannot be serious'.
Is it just me or do these ATP umpires pick and choose who they dish out their time violations to as they seek their 2 minutes of fame in the following day's Sporting headlines?
You do the sums..........
