Italy's Lorenzo Sonego questions Rafael Nadal's sportsmanship; Spaniard renders apology

Twenty-two-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal advanced into the Round of 16 of Wimbledon Championships 2022, by picking up a 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 win at the Centre Court on Saturday. While the match witnessed a great display of the sport between the No. 2 seed Nadal and No. 27 seed Italian Sonego, alongside a few dramatic moments, Sonego accused the Spainaird of poor sportsmanship after Nadal called Sonego to the net.

Midway during the game, Nadal expressed to Sonego that he was unhappy with the latter’s grunting between points. This act didn’t go down well with the Italian as he accused the Spanish legend of distracting him. This led to the umpire getting involved in the matter, as Nadal later realised his mistake and was spotted apologising to his opponent, after the game.

As the entire final set went 3-1 up in Nadal’s favour, a return from the two-time Wimbledon champion struck Sonego on his head. While the latter requested for the lights to be turned on, the match was further delayed after the roof was closed when Nadal was ahead by 4-2. Frustrated with this, as Sonego levelled the score at 4-4, Nadal lost his cool and asked his opponent to come to the net.

Rafael Nadal apologises to Lorenzo Sonego

Revealing his thoughts about the incident, Rafael explained what had happened, before apologising to the Italian. Expressing his thoughts on what he did in the post-match press conference, Rafael said, “I think I was wrong. 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”. 

'I feel sorry if I bothered him,' says Rafael Nadal

He added that certain codes must always be respected inside the tennis court and admitted that it was wrong for him to call Lorenzo to the net and tell him things. “I feel sorry if I bothered him but I did it in a right way. I feel really bad now if I bothered him so I feel sorry for that. That's it, I will talk to him after but this is not a problem,” Rafael added. He will now face Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands in the Round of 16 of Wimbledon 2022 on Monday, eyeing his third Grand Slam win of the year.

(Image: @Wimbledon/Twitter)