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Roland-Garros: how Djokovic sublimated the technique of the "toilet break"

2021-06-17T00:37:44.199Z


Go to the bathroom in the middle of a match, as Novak Djokovic did in the final this Sunday against Stafanos Tsitsipas, it is the opportunity to cut


Relieve yourself ... the spirit.

Here is what Novak Djokovic needed this Sunday afternoon when leaving the Philippe-Chatrier court at around 5 p.m. in the middle of the Roland-Garros final.

The world number 1, rolled in the exchange by Stefanos Tsitsipas, is then led two sets to zero when he asks the referee to be absent for a few minutes.

Officially, it is about changing the skin, going from a white tunic to a red tunic, but it is in fact mainly a question of inner metamorphosis.

"He came back suddenly as if it was almost a new player, said after the meeting the Greek, dried in five sets.

I don't know, I felt like he could read my game better all of a sudden.

Very good for him.

He did well to do that ”.

The future is bright, @ steftsitsipas # RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/ulgXS9HlaX

- Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 13, 2021

This pit stop did not fail to intrigue the day after the Serbian's 19th Grand Slam coronation.

First of all, let us specify that it is completely legal.

Twice per match for men in a Major, and once for women, a player is entitled to go to the bathroom, under the escort of an official, or to change.

Only, what about sportsmanship?

The momentum of a duel potentially broken by this cut?

"Suddenly, I was cold and I was no longer there," said Tsitsipas, while Djokovic explained having felt on his return "the rhythm slipping on his side".

"Reset everything"

Arnaud Di Pasquale, ex-national technical director and new boss of French padel, puts into perspective the impact of this practice, which should not last more than five minutes at the end of a set. "Nine times out of ten, the players go there because they really need it," attests the former tennis player, who finds "ridiculous" those who let the thesis of doping products hover. That Novak used the rules to get his head straight, I hear. But I think he would have won either way. He's proven many times that he doesn't need this. "

In the round of 16, and in such a scenario, "Nole" had already used this controversial trick to find "the hair of the beast".

At the edge of the precipice facing Lorenzo Musetti, he had gone to change his underwear.

"Even if it's only a few minutes, it allows you to reset everything," he said.

I have experienced this in the past in similar situations.

It feels like it's a very short break, but leaving the court for a few moments works very well, mentally.

"

Read also Roland-Garros: Djokovic at a march from the legends Federer and Nadal

Toilet break, medical time out, new outfit ... No matter the parade, it's an open secret to say that the reasons are sometimes psychological.

Two years ago, hooked by Dominic Thiem in the final in Paris, Nadal confided that he "went to the bathroom (...) think about what was going on and come back with other ideas for the game".

In 2012, at the US Open, Djokovic himself waited long minutes for Andy Murray before being able to embark on a decisive fifth set.

"I stood in front of the mirror, sweat running down my face, and I knew I had to change what was going on inside", later confided the one who won his first Grand Slam that day.

When the sun pushes Federer to do the same

In any case, we wish a lot of courage to those who will try to reform these breaks, which were not yet the subject of any rule in the last century.

Should we prevent a player from leaving the court, even if it means seeing some fart a cable, like Shapovalov having threatened in February to urinate in a bottle if the referee persisted in refusing him access to the small corner?

Andy Murray advocates for radical solutions.

The Scotsman proposes that in the event of a pee break, the opponent be allowed to bring his coach onto the court ("the TV would love that because it would give them something to talk about during the break").

But also that the player seeking medical treatment loses the right to serve for the next game, so that he does so only because of serious pain.

"I'm going to pee in a bottle."

😂😂😂



Denis Shapovalov isn't happy with the toilet break rule.



WATCH: @ Channel9


STREAM: https://t.co/TYsz5RZN3Z # 9WWOS #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/X9PYABlOH4

- Wide World of Sports (@wwos) February 8, 2021

However, it is difficult to imagine such reforms as they are.

Especially since this passage in the locker room can conversely be perceived as a simple joker card to know how to draw at the right time.

“I know some people use that to change the game or whatever.

Maybe if I did it more often, I would win more matches, ”breathed former world number 1 Karolína Pliskova a few years ago.

In the genre, the prize goes to Roger Federer during a quarter-final in Melbourne in 2010. It is not really Davydenko's form that the Swiss wanted to see fall, but the Australian sun, he who had just lost the first round of his quarter-final. “I never take bathroom breaks. But there, I said to myself:

Why not?

I just hoped that every minute the sun would move an inch more. Machiavellian.

Source: leparis

All sports articles on 2021-06-17

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