Federer urges umpires to crack whip on Nadal

IN WHAT sounded suspiciously like an outbreak of mind games ahead of the men's final this afternoon, Roger Federer has spoken about the length of time it takes Rafael Nadal to serve, suggesting that the match umpire might want to intervene if the Spaniard pushes his luck too far.

Nadal has often been accused of exceeding the 20-second limit between points and during the French Open he was twice hit with warnings during his semi-final against Novak Djokovic and in the final against Federer. The rules state that a second violation should automatically incur a point penalty. "The unfortunate part is the umpire will always give him (Nadal] a warning but he'll never give him a point penalty," said Federer yesterday.

"It's obviously a fine line. Until he gets into position to serve he takes his 20 seconds then he takes another 10 or 15 seconds until he really serves. I'm not saying he abuses it but he never feels the heat that much."

Federer insisted that he didn't think Nadal was guilty of gamesmanship but still he allowed himself to be drawn into a debate on the subject, perhaps a sign of him wanting to get into the umpire's head and the head of his opponent. The champion, who is chasing his sixth Wimbledon title, admits he has been affected by Nadal's go-slow tactics in the past but says he will not let it bother him on the day.

"It used to be irritating when I played him a few times in a row and I really felt he was playing very slow. I think he's speeded up since those times and I actually felt he was playing fair lately. It's up to the umpire. I'll try to concentrate. I don't think I'll win or lose a match because he takes five seconds extra on a point. It's on the edge, I'm aware of that, but it's up to the umpire to decide what he wants to do."

Nadal didn't wish to get sucked into the debate. "Everybody's free to say what they want," he responded. "I am not the one to say it's true or not but we'll let the umpire decide what happens on court."