Watch: Rafael Nadal’s fancy ‘footwork’ receives approval from England men’s football manager Gareth Southgate

A feisty Rafael Nadal was in dominating form on Saturday as he sealed a 6-1 6-2 6-4 win against Lorenzo Sonego in his Wimbledon third round fixture, at Centre Court. During the match, Nadal also got into an altercation with his Italian opponent and appeared to be visibly irritated. Despite the emotions involved in the game, Nadal also won over the Centre Court crowd including giving a smile to none other than England football team manager Gareth Southgate. Netting a serve, Nadal controlled Sonego’s return on his foot just like a professional football player and it brought a smile on Southgate’s face. The crowd also applauded Nadal and the commentator exclaimed, “Did you see that footwork?”

Here is the video:

Although Nadal had dropped a set each in each of his previous two matches, but against Sonego he was in dominant form. But when Nadal was leading 4-2 in the third set, Sonego convinced the officials to close the roof so that the floodlights could be turned on. The Spaniard didn’t seem happy with the decision as it delayed his impending victory. When the match resumed, Sonego further teased Nadal by grunting in the middle of a rally.

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The two-time Wimbledon champion ended up dropping his serve for the first time in the match and went to the net to have a discussion with Sonego. Nadal went onto the win the next two games and sealed a berth the Round of 16.

After the pair shook hands, they had another talk at the net and the Italian seemed upset. Later Nadal spoke about the altercation and apologised to his opponent. “Not spicy at all… from the bottom of my heart… I feel really bad now if I bothered him so I feel sorry for that. That’s it — I will talk to him after but this is not a problem”, he said.

Nadal will next face Botic van de Zandschulp in his Round of 16 fixture.