Casper Rudd requested a break to change clothes, did so and returned to Center Court to continue the match.
Then the judge warned him not to go to the toilet.
“You have to go to the toilet if you say you’re going to the toilet,” Judge Fergus Murphy overheard the Norwegian saying.
At the end of the first set, the Norwegian asked the referee for a toilet break to change his clothes. He was granted, at which point Rod set out to change his clothes.
Once back, he was warned for a mistake by referee Fergus Murphy – for not going to the toilet. Then the following words are exchanged:
Rod: “Huh, did you go there to change clothes?”
Murphy: “You have to go to the bathroom too, that’s the rule.”
Rod: “But if I need to change my underwear, what should I do? Do I have to do it on the right track?”
Murphy: “No no, you can do both. It’s called a toilet break.”
Rod: “But if I need a change of clothes, what should I do?”
Murphy: “Yes, I know, but the base is covered by the toilet break base. You can change your clothes but you have to go to the bathroom when you say you are going to the bathroom.”
Rod: “But I didn’t say I was going to the bathroom, I said I would change.”
Murphy: “I heard that.”
Rod: “My socks, my pants, my shorts and my shirt.”
Murphy: “It’s subject to the toilet break rule.”
Rod: “Well, next time I ask for one, I’ll go into the same toilet.”
Murphy: “If you need to go to the toilet, you need to, that’s your job. But if you ask and you don’t, I must warn you, that’s what I’m explaining here.”
Rod: “What would the $3,000 fines be or what?”
Murphy: “I have no idea about that.”
Rudd was then officially warned for his unsportsmanlike behavior, but won the match against Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut with numbers 6-7, 7-6, 6-4.
