Rafael Nadal not overly convinced by Wimbledon officials after fourth round decision

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By Paul Conolly

Published Jul 11, 2017

The Spaniard has a reason to be annoyed

Rafael Nadal came out on the wrong side of a Wimbledon epic when he was unexpectedly bested by Gilles Muller of Luxembourg in a marathon encounter that lasted just shy of five hours.

Nadal, who has never been one for going away quietly, saved four match points before Muller was eventually able to find a way through at the fifth time of asking.

The final set alone lasted over two hours and ended 15-13 in favour of Muller, who produced the game of his life to dump the in-form Spaniard out of the Championships at SW19.

Nadal, a pre-tournament favourite, felt that he had given his everything and apologised to his fans after the match.

"Great feeling. Great atmosphere. I put everything on the court. I played with all my passion," said Nadal.

"The crowd normally appreciate that. Sorry for the crowd that were supporting me."

However, Nadal was not pleased with the fact that he had been relegated to court number one to make room for Roger Federer and questioned the officials' decision to move the match from Centre Court.

With hindsight, the unending encounter was far more deserving of Centre Court than Roger Federer's straightforward win over Grigor Dimitrov and Nadal was keen to make that fact known.

Nadal said: "I like playing more on Centre Court. Someone has to play on Centre, and it's almost always the same players here. This is the reality. Here, there are many of us who have won a lot in our careers, who have a lot of important history behind us.

"A tournament that wants to be as traditional and as special as Wimbledon has to distribute the number of matches scheduled on Centre Court and that not always the same people play there, and when there are doubts, the others are sent to other courts."

Roger Federer is the undisputed darling of Wimbledon, there is no disputing that, and will always be given first go on Centre Court, but Nadal was still unimpressed by the treatment he received.

However, Nadal scoffed at questions regarding whether he would return to SW19, insisting that he will be back as he looks to take to Centre Court many more times in his career.