French Open 2023: ‘Do you want me to p*** on the floor?’ – Thanasi Kokkinakis argues with umpire over toilet break

Thanasi Kokkinakis was not happy when he got into a dispute with the umpire over going for a second toilet break during his tough four-set defeat to Karen Khachanov at the 2023 French Open.

The unseeded Australian lost out to the 11th seed in a hard-fought match, 6-4 6-1 3-6 7-6(5), on Court Simonne-Mathieu in the third round of Roland-Garros on Friday afternoon in more glorious weather in Paris.

Kokkinakis, who overcame former champion Stanislas Wawrinka in a very challenging encounter in the previous round, could not find enough inspiration against the hard-hitting Khachanov, who is a serious threat for the other contenders in the tournament.

There was real drama when Kokkinakis, who had already taken a bathroom visit after the opening set, expressed his frustrations to the umpire about the toilet break rules with Court Simonne-Mathieu not having a bathroom particularly nearby.

Players are permitted two toilet breaks in a five-set match, which this encounter did not quite reach, although the fourth-set tie-break certainly made it fairly long at three hours and 42 minutes.

“You’re telling me I’ve got 50 seconds,” Kokkinakis said to the umpire.

“Can you just be realistic and [give me] something decent for once? F***ing s***. We get two for a match.

“Do you want me to p*** on the floor? Is that what you want? What do you want then?”

Barbara Schett gave her verdict on the incident in the Eurosport studio: “That was quite urgent there for Thanasi Kokkinakis. It’s pretty strict, you can have two toilet breaks in a five-setter. Obviously, in the first set, Thanasi went out already, but why does he have to go so often? That’s my question!”

Laura Robson added: “He’s trying to stay hydrated, give him a break! He said the right thing, almost, because no one wants to see that happen on court. Definitely not me!

“You have to sprint, but the problem is, on Simonne-Mathieu, the bathrooms just aren’t as close as they are on Chatrier and Lenglen. You can see his frustrations because he’s trying to get there as fast as possible, but it’s physically not going to happen. At least it didn’t happen on court!”

Tim Henman also weighed in with his view: “I was going to say, he’s obviously not running fast enough and sweating enough, so that he’s then getting the fluid out of his system through sweat.”

Finally, Mats Wilander added his thoughts to the discussion: “Honestly, I don’t remember ever going to a bathroom when I was playing, even in long matches. I did a lot of running in those days, though.”

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