The only annoying facet of Rafa

To get to this point, the viewer has to endure a looong wait

While watching Rafa’s matches, one thing that would strike any viewer would be the insane amount of time that he takes before every serve. The average time that is allowed before serving is 25 secs according to the rule book. Rafa takes close to 30 secs and sometimes even more. He touches his back, nose, his hair, what not, then lowly bounces the ball and finally serves. It is really laborious to watch this routine. As a guy who has seen Rafa since his early days, this is the only annoying thing in an otherwise perfect champion resume.

The chair umpires also don’t bother to warn him or penalize him. As a much respected champion and role model for crores of fanatics, Rafa must surely set a good example and not violate a basic rule. This also spoils an otherwise electric viewing experience when Rafa plays. As soon as he serves and puts the ball in play, it is pulsating and the way he runs from corner to corner, retrieving the ball, smashing those top spun whiplash forehands etc etc. is truly delightful.

But before all that, we got to endure this pain, this meticulous routine which no one bothers to question. Rafa’s lofty stature in the game allows him to get away with this. On an average, he takes 4 mins for a service game and even his routine straight set affairs last around 150 mins. When was the last time Rafa ever finished a match in less than 90 mins like Federer regularly does?

On one hand we have players like Federer, Murray, Tomic, Dolgopolov, Hewitt who just merely bounce the ball a couple of times and serve the ball and are on their way. On the other hand we have people like Berdych and Djokovic who keep bouncing the ball and take an eternity to start their serve. On the extreme, we have Rafa whose routines and superstitions result in the match time taking a serious beating.

And on occasions when Berdych or Djokovic meet Nadal, then rest assured even a normal 3 or 4 sets match will go well beyond the 4 hrs mark. That is exactly what happened today. It was laborious, tiring and a real drag in an otherwise pulsating match filled with plenty of Rafa specials.

Inspite of being one of Rafa’s biggest fanatics, I detest this facet of his. I imagine Federer’s fans must feel pretty strongly against this time consuming bad-habit that Rafa has. Will Rafa ever shorten this routine or will we have to endure this drag for as long as he plays? Are the ATP noting this ever lasting phenomenon?