‘He distracted me’: Nadal accused of poor sportsmanship by Sonego after Wimbledon tie, Spaniard apologises – Watch

Rafael Nadal kept his hope for a Calendar Grand Slam alive as he scripted a dominating show against Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego on Saturday- at the Centre Court as he advanced to the fourth round of Wimbledon 2022 with a straight-set win. He had earlier dropped a set each in the his first two matches on return to the All England Club for the first time in three years, but Nadal looked in his supreme best on grass as he took down the 27th seed with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 win. But more that Nadal’s splendid show it was the spat between the two that took centre stage on Saturday with Sonego later accusing the Spaniard for poor sportsmanship. Nadal later apologised to him.

During the third set, Nadal had called Sonego to the net as he was left unhappy with the Italian grunting during points. But the act did not go down well with the Italian who later accused Nadal for distracting him off his game.

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“A player should not call his opponent on the net. You cannot do that at Wimbledon. Nadal should have just had a word with the umpire. He distracted me,” he said after the match.

However, the issue had begun long before their interaction at the net. It was at the start of the final set when Nadal had gone 3-1 up. A return from the two-time Wimbledon champion struck Sonego on his head and the latter then requested for the lights to be turned on. Later the roof was closed when Nadal was leading 4-2 leaving the 36-year-old frustrated as it caused a delay in the match.

After restart, Sonego seemed to find his rhythm as he levelled things at 4-4 before Nadal called him at the nets and the exchange led to the umpire getting involved.

While Nadal realised his mistake and later had a word with him at the end of the match, he also apologised while speaking about the same in the post-match presser.

“I think I was wrong,” Rafa mentioned. “I spoke to him in total calmness. I exposed the situation that was happening. If I needed to go back, I wouldn’t do it again.

“I told the referee before. The referee, who is one of the bests, was waiting until the change of service to tell him something. Were are among colleagues, we see each other every week. There are codes inside a tennis court that must be respected. I believe I was wrong for calling him to the net and telling him the things.”

“I should’ve told him when we switched (serves) or wait until the referee told him,” Nadal said.