Australian Open 2021

What a night it was at the Australian Open where Rafael Nadal was matched up against American qualifier Michael Mmoh.

A woman in the stands, yes, fans are back and many aren’t wearing masks in Australia where COVID is starting to be old news, went “off” on Nadal during the second set of his match against the 23-year-old American for his annoying “hand rituals” between points to infuriate his opponent.

The woman reportedly screamed, “Hurry up, you OCD fuck” while Nadal was preparing to serve to Mmoh. Then came the “proverbial” middle finger.

That led to a security lady coming over to tell the fan it was time to go.

“A fan just gave Rafa the finger. Look at his reaction: what, me?” pic.twitter.com/fY3npCNTrn — Tennis GIFs (@tennis_gifs) February 11, 2021

Looks like Rafa doesn’t miss crowds as much as he thought.

I’m literally giggling as I type up this post because it’s such an amazing burn. A lady middle fingering the world’s No. 2 tennis player and calling him an “OCD fuck.” From an Aussie sense of humor standpoint, that’s actually pretty funny.

The Australian Open is allowed to have up to 50% capacity, and an estimated 21,000 showed up on Day 4. If we’re getting one middle finger lady out of 21,000 fans, that bodes well for the rest of what’s going on down under.

She looks like sad sack of bones Nancy Pelosi.

“Lisa” as she was called during an interview with Australian radio station 3AW didn’t back away from how she feels about the world’s No. 2 men’s player.

“I’m certainly not a fan of Nadal. I think he’s incredibly boring and he goes through all those OCD rituals all the time. The only reason I happened to be at the match is because I wanted a ticket to see the previous female match between Coco Gauff and Elina Svitolina and I stuck around to watch the boring Nadal. The very fact that apparently pictures of me have gone viral, even around the world, reflects on how incredibly boring his matches are, because why would you want to focus on a spectator?”

OCD aside, Nadal indeed takes too long with his quirky hand rituals between points for which he has become famous, and which can seem at times to be a deliberate ploy to infuriate and unbalance his opponents.

There should be rules enforced to stop Rafa’s elaborate, nuanced “12-step program” out of respect for the opponent.

Here are the annoying eccentric “superstitions” Rafa performs every time on court:

1. Have a cold shower 45 minutes before a match;
2. Wear both socks at the same height.
3. Carry one racquet onto court, and five more racquets in his bag.
4. Place two water bottles, one cold, one warm, in a straight line on the ground, labels facing towards the end of the court from which he is about to play.
5. Sprint to the baseline after the coin spin, with a split step then a jog around the back court.
6. Never walk on the sidelines as if avoiding cracks on a pavement.
7. Bounce the ball 10 to 12 times before serving.
8. Toweling his face left side first, then right side, then each arm, after every single point.
9. Adjusting the left, then right, shoulder of his shirt,
10. Wiping his nose with thumb and forefinger.
11. Pushing his hair back over each ear despite a forehead sweatband.
12. Adjusting the front and back of his underwear with his right hand.

Psychiatrists define OCD  as an anxiety disorder characterized by “obsessive thoughts and compulsive behavior” the way a person centers himself. All the top players have their own little quirks, superstitions, rituals, or whatever you like to call them.

Rafael Nadal – the REAL reason for his quirky rituals