“He screamed too much”, “Not even in the third category” – Corriere.it

The middle sunday that this year for the first time opens the gates of the All England Club (and for what match then, Sinner-Alcaraz …) brings with it a bad Saturday. Sparks between Kyrgios and Tsitsipas (and that was to be expected), controversy between Nadal and Sonego (a little less predictable). More than the most elegant slam in the world, in some moments it was a bullfight, if not even a ring.

The match that saw the blue Lorenzo Sonego beaten by Rafa Anything

l it soured in the finale. The Spaniard, two sets ahead and 4-2 in the third, did not like the request to close the roof, also because it came at a time when the Turin player seemed to be able to return to the game. And when Sonego, at 4-4, recovered the break from the disadvantage, the 22 Slam man asked the chair judge and obtained to talk to the opponent on the net, and then asked him not to shout too much and not to prolong the towards after the coup, a bit like it had happened at Roland Garros, with another Italian, Martina Trevisan, “recalled” by Coco Gauff. Sonego accused this anomalous moment, lost his serve again and Nadal closed the match. «I tried to tell Lorenzo as kindly as possible if he could make less noise – Nadal’s words on the pitch -. Now I feel guilty, because maybe I disturbed him. This was not my intention ». Sonego accepted the apology, but still said about him: «There is no such thing as a player calling another player on the net, he is in the third category, not at Wimbledon. You call the referee, you don’t call a player at the net. At the end of the game he apologized: I told him that at that moment he had conditioned me ».

Shortly after Nadal also closed his match Kyrgios. The Australian beat Tsitsipas in four sets at the end of a tense match, which also continued in the press room. “Kyrgios bullies opponents, he was probably a bully even when he went to school – Tsitsipas’ accusations -. He has a very evil personality trait, it’s complicated to play against him: it’s like being in a circus, this thing has to stop ». Open heaven: Kyrgios responded in kind: «Tsitsipas has serious problems. In the locker room I am respected, but nobody likes him. He was the one who threw the balls at me and hit a spectator, so he did the circus. Maybe he should think about how to beat me. ‘ But what had been the fuse? First of all a ball thrown into the stands (which almost hits a spectator) by Tsitsipas at the end of the second set, with Kyrgios asking the supervisor for disqualification and Stefanos who got away with a warning. Then another shot against the tarps in the third, following a serve from below from Nick. Penalty point, with Tsitsipas who then tried to hit the same opponent with a ball. Finally a fourth set played on the edge of the nerves, with Kyrgios passing the turn and facing the American Nakashima.