John McEnroe accused Rafael Nadal of time abuse: A look back at famous spat

Spain’s Rafael Nadal is set to begin his last-ever professional tennis competition in Malaga, where Spain will take on the Netherlands in the quarterfinal of the Davis Cup. The 38-year-old, who is regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of men’s tennis in the singles category in the Open era, having won as many as 22 Grand Slam titles, has recently announced that he will retire from professional tennis after the ongoing Davis Cup.

As Nadal approaches the end of his professional career, one incident that will be remembered long in the memory of tennis fans is his war of words with former world number one America’s John McEnroe. The 65-year-old, who is now a famous broadcaster, once accused the legendary tennis star during commentary of taking more time than the allowed 25 seconds to serve. He also stated that Nadal gets away without any warning from the officials because he is ‘that great’.

Later, a journalist asked Nadal about his reaction to the comments, which clearly made the Spaniard furious. He went on to state that he is ‘following the rules’ and that whenever he goes overtime, the chair umpire has warned him. “I am following the rules,” said Nadal back then. “If I am having more than 25 seconds I receive a warning every single time. If not, check the clock. I don’t think I’m receiving different treatment at all. I don’t understand why John can say that on the TV, but I am going to have a chat with him later.”

McEnroe was left frustrated by Nadal's comments and blamed the journalist for being ‘dumb’. “Why did they throw me under the bus? We haven’t had that talk (with Nadal) but let me just add that… he didn’t let me finish, whoever the dumb journalist was,” he said. “Rafa Nadal is entitled to do whatever the hell he wants, that’s part of why you get as good as [Nadal is], you’ve got to deal with that. And it’s not up to him. We all know that he’s been doing this for the past 10 to 15 years. There’s nothing new to that. It’s not his call – it’s the umpires.”