Tennis player was disqualified after taking shower to ‘remove sand from underwear’
American tennis star Nicolas Moreno De Alboran was disqualified from an ATP Tour event this week after trying to ‘remove sand from their underwear’ because it was causing a painful rash.
Alboran, the current world number 311, took an unauthorised break from his round of 32 clash against Federico Delbonis at the Sevilla Challenger tournament on Tuesday (September 6).
Having lost the opening set 7-5 and winning the second 7-6, the 25-year-old tried to take a quick shower but was spotted by Delbonis who informed the officials.
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Alboran then posted a statement on Instagram, it said: “During the second set, I fell over 3/4 times. On one of them sand got inside my underwear.
“I had to play like that for 30 minutes and it was giving me a rash that started bleeding after a while. When I won the second set, I went to the toilet to change (you get five minutes).
“When I saw that I couldn’t get the sand off with the towel since I was sweating so much. I decided to use the shower handle to only rinse the sand off.
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(Image: ATP Tour)
“My opponent told the umpire that came to the bathroom with us with us that I had taken a shower (which you are not allowed to do).
“The tournament referee then proceeded to default me from the tournament.
“On top of that, I will not receive the points or prize money from the tournament, and will have to pay my hotel room for the days that I was playing in the tournament.
(Image: Getty Images)
“This has nothing to do with the tournament or its organisation which was incredible all week long.”
TV footage shows Delbonis waiting for his opponent before telling the umpire what Alboran had been doing following the culmination of the second set.
The umpire then announced a default, with Delbonis going on to beat Nikolas Sanchez Izquierdo in the last 16 before losing to Roberto Carballes Baena in the quarter-final.
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