French Open tennis - 'He's already had a warning!' - Stefanos Tsitsipas in towel drama, almost gets punished
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Updated 06/06/2021 at 13:50 GMT
In an amusing race against time Stefanos Tsitsipas, who had already received a warning for taking too long, only just made it back to the service line in the nick of time after absent-mindedly strolling over to wipe his face with his towel between points in his French Open third-round clash with Pablo Carreno Busta. It is not the first towel drama we have witnessed at Roland Garros.
'He's already had a warning!' - Tsitsipas in towel drama, almost gets punished
Stefanos Tsitsipas was involved in a very strange and amusing towel drama at the French Open as he almost received a punishment and had to sprint away.
It is far from the first incident with a towel at the Covid regulations-impacted tournament after Roger Federer got into a row with the umpire and opponent Marin Cilic earlier in the week.
This time, Tsitsipas found himself desperately having to sprint back across the court to avoid losing a serve after walking over to the other side to grab his towel.
It was an amusing race against time from the Greek, who had already received a warning for taking too long, and he only just made it in the nick of time.
Eurosport expert Jo Durie, who reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros in 1983, explained what was going on.
Well he's gone to the towel on the other side, he's got to come all the way back, he's already had a warning!
"He's going to lose his first serve... he had to sprint. Oh dear!"
Eurosport commentator Simon Reed added: "He's suddenly remembered! That was comical."
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'I was waiting for you!' - Federer and Cilic in heated towel row with umpire
Federer and Cilic were involved in an unusual row with the umpire over the pace of play and taking time to get towels during their French Open second-round clash.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion had a lengthy exchange with the umpire when 3-1 down in the second set after Cilic had apparently complained over the time being taken to get towels at the back of the court between points.
After the long discussion with the official at the net in French, which at times got pretty heated, Federer then questioned Cilic himself about the incident.
"Am I playing too slow?!" he asked Cilic while standing at the net, turning away from the umpire.
"Am I playing too slow?!
"No, no, I understand the rule..."
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'Shocked and surprised' - Federer reacts to argument over towel with umpire
Cilic replied: "You were not playing too slow but, on a few occasions, I was waiting for you!"
Federer shot back: "I understand. But I am going from one corner to the next, trying to get my towel.
"I'm not even doing it on purpose!"
Cilic replied again: "That's fine but, I mean, you're playing like this all the time..."
At that point, Federer turned and walked back to the baseline, clearly not overly happy with the exchange.
With players not quite knowing whether to retrieve their towels between points or not, this is unlikely to be the last towel incident in the tournament.
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'Big mistake!' - Wilander defends Federer over towel row with umpire and Cilic
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Watch all the action from the 2021 French Open live on Eurosport, eurosport.co.uk and the Eurosport app with 13-time champion Rafael Nadal eyeing a remarkable 14th title and 2020 Roland Garros sensation Iga Swiatek aiming to replicate her stunning triumph.
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