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Italian tennis player Lorenzo Sonego said Rafael Nadal distracted him with his action and added the Spaniard should have had a word with the chair umpire if he was having some issues. After Sonego broke back Nadal in the eighth game of the third set to tie the set to four games apiece, Nadal went to the net and called Sonego for a quick chat.
Once the match continued, Sonego got broken back in the ninth game as Nadal served out for a 6-1 6--2 6-4 victory in the 10th game. “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," Sonego said after the match.
Nadal apologized to Sonego
After the match, Nadal went to Sonego in the locker room to apologize. Also, Nadal admitted he was wrong in his decision to call Sonego to the net in the middle of action.
“Well, first of all, I have to say that I was wrong,” Nadal said. “I should not call him to the net. 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. My intention was never to bother him at all. 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”. Even though Nadal didn't publicly disclose what was the reason for his decision to call Sonego to the net, many suspected that the reason for that was the Italian's grunt.