'Really amazing': Rafa Nadal furious over rare violation at Australian Open

Usually one of the most unflappable characters on the tour, Rafael Nadal was decidedly unhappy by his standards during his quarter-final clash against Dominic Thiem at the Australian Open on Wednesday night.

Nadal was left fuming after chair umpire Aurelie Tourte handed him a violation for taking too long between serves mid-way through the second set.

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Notorious for taking his time between serves, Nadal copped the violation after a particularly long rally - and made his feelings clear to the official afterwards.

“It is really amazing after this point that you put the chrono straight,” Nadal fumed.

“It is really amazing.

“You don’t like the good tennis. You don’t like the good tennis.”

The violation clearly threw the Spaniard off his game, with Nadal clearly rattled at certain points in the back and forth set.

His frustration didn’t go unnoticed, with Channel 9’s Todd Woodbridge suggesting Nadal was looking to use the full service clock almost every time and taking a massive amount of time between service games.

“Goes to show though, without the serve clock, Rafa would have taken another five or six seconds on some of those,” he said.

“That was not a sit down changeover and it took as long as a sit down changeover.

“That play was supposed to be continuous there.

“That was an extraordinary amount of time. We are supposed to keep the play moving.”