WATCH: ATP Player Makes Unusual Request To Chair Umpire at St. Petersburg Open 2021

Published 11/01/2021, 9:40 AM EDT

With the tennis season soon coming to an end, an interesting match in the ATP St. Petersburg Open 2021 unfolded. Moreover, as Dutch player, Botic Van de Zandschulp was up against Croatian tennis star Marin Cilic, the match went in favor of the US Open 2014 champion but a rather unusual moment amused fans the most.

Midway through the enticing clash, Botic Van de Zandschulp asked the chair umpire for a quick break as he wanted to take a nap. The hilarious conversation was caught on camera, leaving some fans in splits and some intrigued by the unusual request.

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Botic said, “Two more minutes, maybe I can take a quick nap.” Surprised, the umpire asked him, “What do you want?” To which, Botic replied, “A quick nap.” “You’re going to the bathroom?” the umpire asked again, as the doctor present intervened, saying, “He hasn’t slept all night.”

Marin Cilic is too strong in ATP St. Petersburg 2021

Speaking of the match, Cilic was too strong from the beginning, looking in control during the entire match. Notably, he eventually won the game 6-3 6-3 in straight sets. As for the Dutch player, he was visibly not fully fit for the match as he lacked sleep.

This is a new one… 😴

Botic Van de Zandschulp with an usual request at the change of ends in St Petersburg 😅#spbopen pic.twitter.com/lnojtwrv28
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 31, 2021

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As we talk about the ATP St. Petersburg Open 2021, it was the experience of the Croatian player that came in handy. He beat American tennis player Taylor Fritz in the final. It was a close contest as the match went down to the wire. He won the game 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-4.

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Coming back to Botic Van de Zandschulp, he too had an impressive tournament and many positives to take back. During the course of the event, he beat players like Nishioka and Rublev. It will be interesting to see how he performs in future events.

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Rohan Kollare is a Tennis author at EssentiallySports. Rohan has studied Sports Management and has a trophy cabinet adorned with accolades won in district and state-level tennis competitions. He has previously worked in Content Operations for Disney’s Hotstar for over a year, covering Tennis and Formula One.

WATCH: ATP Player Makes Unusual Request To Chair Umpire at St. Petersburg Open 2021

Marin Cilic is too strong in ATP St. Petersburg 2021

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