‘Rattled’ Carlos Alcaraz has surprising reaction to umpire over ‘towel-gate’ warning at Australian Open v Jack Draper

Carlos Alcaraz caused a rare scene when he spent an entire changeover reacting to umpire Fergus Murphy about a ‘towel-gate’ warning in his fourth-round match against Britain’s Jack Draper. The Spanish star was in control of the first set and serving for it when suddenly things unravelled, leaving him to direct his frustration towards the chair umpire, whilst a bemused Draper watched on.

Carlos Alcaraz entered his fourth-round match-up against Jack Draper as the heavy favourite, given how much less time he had spent on court than his opponent, with the Brit having scraped into the round-of-16 courtesy of three incredible five-set matches.

And that favourite tag looked warranted when Alcaraz went a break up. But just before he served for the set at 5-3, chair umpire Fergus Murphy gave Alcaraz an unofficial warning for the time he was taking between points. 

On a very spacious Rod Laver Arena, the towel boxes are situated quite far from the baseline - and with temperatures in the early 30s again, both players were mopping themselves down between points. 

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But the warning seemed to play on Alcaraz’s mind, and he played an uncharacteristically sloppy game to see his serve broken, and control of the first set ebb away.

"It’s my fourth match and you are the only one who, after a game, you had to be like that with the clock, it’s crazy," Alcaraz said to the umpire when he sat down.

"I finish a game, I went to the towel and I didn’t take too much time for it, and then when I ask for the balls I have 15 seconds... it's crazy!

"I have to go to the towel and if I go, the balls are all on that side. You know where is the towel, it’s unbelievable! Come on!"

Watch as Alcaraz wins opening point against GB's Draper

Video credit: TNT Sports

Anne Keothavong on commentary agreed with the Spanish star, with the size of the main show court at the Australian Open contributing to the issue.

"Wow, well you don’t usually see Alcaraz rattled like that, and he was before he served for the set," she said from the Eurosport commentary box.

"Fergus Murphy just gave him a heads-up on the time he was taking between points, but I do think Alcaraz had a fair point. I don’t think he is deliberately stalling - this is a big court."

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Stalling, time-wasting and unnecessary off-court toilet trips have all been clamped down on in recent years, with a shot clock visible on court in a bid to speed up matches. But Chris Bradnam agreed with Keothavong.

"Towel-gate rears its head again. Really unhappy about the shot clock, Alcaraz. Yeah, he was really rattled," he said on commentary.

"I’m not sure it was necessary by the umpire to say anything there," Keothavong concluded.

The moment proved to not be too costly for Alcaraz, who wound up taking the set 7-5 as his bid for a maiden Australian Open title continued apace. 

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