Being a competitive sportsman and one that is used to winning like
Rafael Nadal, defeat doesn't come easy and he took part in the grip challenge at the
Brisbane International and had a hilarious excuse and response to
Andy Murray beating his time.
Nadal kicked off his comeback to ATP tour life by seeing off Dominic Thiem and Jason Kubler which had many a fan purring about his potential Australian Open chances. But this fell flat against Jordan Thompson when he had three match points, but squandered them and also suffered a potential injury.
Most big names involved in Brisbane took part in the grip challenge where they were set the challenge to put the grip tape on the racquet in the shortest time possible. But Nadal instead of going for speed went for quality as he quipped while completing the task. "Then we need to analyze to the quality not only the speed," he said.
As a result, 25 seconds wasn't the best time for the Spaniard and he was dealt a further blow when he found out that Andy Murray had completed the task in 11 seconds. He questioned if the Brit's craftsmanship was better: "But everything perfect like me or, [with] holes in the middle?" he asked.
To Rafael Nadal's credit amid the nit picking, Murray's effort did see him leave a small gap in the handle so Nadal's claims were valid albeit he didn't see the attempt before he did his.