Rafael Nadal and Lorenzo Sonego were embroiled in a very tense moment during their third-round match at Wimbledon, and the footage of their confrontation has now been shared on social media.
Nadal, a two-time Wimbledon champion, appeared to march towards a straightforward victory when he was up 6-1, 6-2. The Spaniard decided that he had had enough of Lorenzo Sonego's loud grunting and took issue with it.
When Nadal was 3-1 up in the final set, he summoned Sonego to the net to have a word as he became exasperated with the Italian's grunt between points. Tennis fans watching the match were confused about what Nadal was complaining about.
Usually, players can voice their grievances to the chair umpire, who is the person tasked with controlling proceedings in case of disputes. Shortly after that meeting, the roof was shut, with Nadal leading 4-2 in the third set.
Upon resumption, Sonego leveled the set at 4-4, but he clarified after the match that his conversation with Nadal threw him off his game, as the 22-time Grand Slam champion got the crucial break to win the third set 6-4.
One of the more contentious moments of the game was the conversation between Nadal and Sonego at the net, most likely prompted by the latter's prolonged grunts.
Both players commented on the incident after the match, and while the former World No. 1 apologized, his opponent was unimpressed by his behavior about what happened. Nadal will play Botic van de Zandschulp in the fourth round. He remains undefeated in majors this year.
"I was wrong. Probably, I should not have called him on the net. So, apologize for that. My mistake on that. No problem to recognize that."
"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."