Needled Nadal wins then whines at Soderling manners

Having come out yesterday lunchtime — five days after they first warmed up — he finally dispatched Robin Soderling in five sets and then tried to assassinate his opponent's character.

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'I have said hello to him seven times and he does not answer,' Nadal chastised his vanquished opponent

The second-seeded Spaniard had been offended by Soderling's manner on court during the course of a rancorous 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 4-6, 7-5 victory that was closed out after they had restarted at 4-4 in the fifth.

Among Nadal's complaints was that Soderling is unfriendly and unpopular in the locker room, that he did not apologise when benefiting from lucky net cords, that he did not shake hands cordially and that the Swede teased him about his mannerism of fiddling with his shorts.

Frankly, it was all a bit wet, as soggy as a Centre Court cover, showing that many tennis players have a lower sensitivity threshold than most other sportsmen.

Soderling, not the most popular man among his peers, had an admirable response when the charge sheet against him was read.

"It's just bull****,' he said, having tried his damnedest on court to bridge the class gap and cause an upset in a match that lasted four hours and three minutes.

Nadal took particular pleasure in winning, given his dislike of his opponent. "He is not the best guy in the locker room, the other players don't speak well of him," he said. "I have said hello to him about seven times and he does not answer.

"When the ball touches the net and goes over, not one time did he say sorry. When I finished the match, he puts the hand out and looks away. After four days that is not normal, no?"

Maybe it was not perfect manners but after losing such a tight match that had run on so long, the Swede was entitled to be bitterly disappointed. Like many players, he is also fed up with the time that Nadal takes between points, something which the Spaniard regards as some sort of entitlement.

In what is a gladiatorial sport there is nothing wrong with Soderling's abrasive approach and it was actually rather refreshing in an era when the players have a tendency to be too cosy with each other.

That accusation could certainly not be levelled at this encounter which yesterday saw Soderling not only refuse to apologise for a lucky net cord but pump his fist in the direction of his opponent when it happened.

"If my opponent makes a lucky shot and he doesn't say sorry, I don't care. Why should I say sorry when it's like one of the happiest moments of my life? It's just bull****," said Soderling, who mimicked Nadal fiddling with his shorts in response to his opponent's constant stalling.

"I think I had to wait for him 200 times, every point I had to wait for him. It's tough, all the other players play faster than him."

So it is fair to assume that Nadal does not embark on what could be the toughest four days of his career with best wishes from his vanquished opponent.

Today the Spaniard faces the 14th seed, Russia's Mikhail Youzhny, and if the wretched climate allows, he may have to play four singles matches in four days if he is to achieve his dream of toppling Roger Federer.

It is surely an unsurmountable task and the dethroning looks further away than ever after a week when Nadal estimated he had spent "eight or nine hours per day" in the locker room.

He added: "In my opinion the chances of the players in the bottom half of the draw [the one most affected by the weather opposite to Federer] are less than those at the top. We are going to have to play a lot of days in a row, while Roger has been on his holidays for the last week."

Never can the workloads of aspiring champions have been so one-sided, but at least Nadal finished the job off relatively quickly. His one scare came when Soderling forced a break point at 5-5 only to miss it with a backhand.

Nadal held serve and then broke to reach the last 16 on his fifth match point. Soderling hit another backhand marginally long and appealed to Hawk-Eye, but knew his fate as they waited awkwardly at the net for the half-hearted handshake.