PARIS (Reuters) - Rafa Nadal is pleased by his performances so far at Roland Garros but is definitely not happy about being told he takes too long to serve. The eight-times French Open champion’s pre-serve routine seems to get more extended every time he appears at the tournament and Pascal Maria, the chair umpire for his three-set defeat of Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer on Saturday, takes a hard line on how long it all takes. A rule introduced in 2013 sets a time limit of 25 seconds for a player to serve. Nadal was called twice by Maria during a match in Monte Carlo in April and again on Saturday during his third-round match.
“After the warning I frowned a little and then I continued, I accepted,” Nadal said. “Sometimes I think that this is fair, because it's true to say that I'm slow. So these warnings are fair. But today, no.