Nadal: I Was Wrong

By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, July 2, 2022

Rafael Nadal called Lorenzo Sonego to net to ask the Italian to tone it down.

Afterward, Nadal sought out Sonego in the locker room to apologize, acknowledging “I was wrong.”

Kyrgios: I Did Nothing Disrespectful to Tsitsipas

In the aftermath of Nadal’s 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 win over Sonego that sent him into the Wimbledon fourth round for the 10th time, he said he made a mistake calling Sonego out on court.

“Well, first of all, I have to say that I was wrong. Probably I should not call him on the net,” Nadal said in his post-match press conference. “So apologize for that. My mistake in that. No problem. I recognize that.

“Then after that, all the stuff during the match that I don’t want to comment, because is something that I spoke with him in the locker room and it stays there. Only thing I can say is I saw him personally. I apologize for that.”

The second-seeded Spaniard was miffed with the timing of Sonego’s extended grunt and the Italian was annoyed by Nadal’s move at 4-all.

Facing a 2-4 third-set deficit, Sonego won eight of nine points breaking back at love to level at 4-all. Prior to that break, Sonego hadn’t had a break point all day.

At that point, Nadal, a career-long grunter himself, took matters into his own hands calling the lanky Italian to net for a brief discussion. A frustrated Sonego did not win another game.

“My intention was never to bother him at all,” Nadal said. “Just to tell one thing that was bothering me that I think he was doing in that moment, but that’s it.

“I think there is some codes between players. Yeah, we had some issues there. But that’s it.”

Photo credit: Getty