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Cape Town - Spanish great Rafael Nadal has fired a parting shot at Ashleigh Barty, reminding the tennis world where Australia's world No 1 stands in the grand slam pecking order.
According to the Stuff.co.nz website, despite her status, the French Open champion played only one of her four Wimbledon matches on Centre Court this year.
Barty was even shunted to Court 2, the third-ranked court at the All England Club, for two rounds - including Monday's 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 loss to American Alison Riske.
The thrilling Barty-Riske three-setter lasted only seven minutes fewer (1 hour 46 minutes v 1 hour 39 minutes) than Nadal's 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 straight-sets drubbing of Joao Sousa, prompting a journalist to ask the Spaniard if the more competitive women's encounter featuring the world No 1 might have been better off staged on Centre Court instead of his mis-match.
"I am the world No 2 and I won 18 Grand Slams," Nadal said.
Grilled on whether that meant no to the initial question, Nadal said: "My answer is not no or yes."
"My answer is they make a decision. You are putting Ashleigh Barty in front of me. For me, both decisions are good.
"In the world of tennis today, honestly, my feeling is today I am little bit more than Ashleigh Barty, even if Ashleigh Barty is the first player of the world and she already won in the French Open and she is playing unbelievably good.
"But we can't create polemics every single day about decisions that they have to take. At the end of the day they have to make a decision.
"A day like today, everybody is playing, of course (Novak) Djokovic is not playing in the Centre Court.
"For me the first day I have been playing in the Court 1. I played in Suzanne Lenglen in Roland Garros, if I'm not wrong, in the second round.
"Every day is a decision. We cannot create polemics about that.
"Court No 2, OK, they have to make decisions. Today they probably decided that. They have another girls (sic) playing on the Centre Court now."
Barty typically wasn't fussed about where she played on, sticking to her party line that all courts at Wimbledon were beautiful.
"Scheduling is out of my control," she said.
"I'll play on any court I'm scheduled on."
Wimbledon results on Monday (x denotes seeding):
Men
Round 4
Novak Djokovic (SRB x1) bt Ugo Humbert (FRA) 6-3, 6-2, 6-3
David Goffin (BEL x21) bt Fernando Verdasco (ESP) 7-6 (11/9), 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
Guido Pella (ARG x26) bt Milos Raonic (CAN x15) 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), 8-6
Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP x23) bt Benoit Paire (FRA x28) 6-3, 7-5, 6-
Sam Querrey (USA) bt Tennys Sandgren (USA) 6-4, 6-7 (7/9), 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/5)
Rafael Nadal (ESP x3) bt Joao Sousa (POR) 6-2, 6-2, 6-2
Kei Nishikori (JPN x8) bt Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
Roger Federer (SUI x2) bt Matteo Berrettini (ITA x17) 6-1, 6-2, 6-2
Women
Round 4
Alison Riske (USA) bt Ashleigh Barty (AUS x1) 3-6, 6-2, 6-3
Serena Williams (USA x11) bt Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP x30) 6-2, 6-2
Barbora Strycova (CZE) bt Elise Mertens (BEL x21) 4-6, 7-5, 6-2
Johanna Konta (GBR x19) bt Petra Kvitova (CZE x6) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
Elina Svitolina (UKR x8) bt Petra Martic (CRO x24) 6-4, 6-2
Karolina Muchova (CZE) bt Karolína Pliskova (CZE x3) 4-6, 7-5, 13-11
Simona Halep (ROU x7) bt Cori Gauff (USA) 6-3, 6-3
Zhang Shuai (CHN) bt Dayana Yastremska (UKR) 6-4, 1-6, 6-2
Wimbledon men's singles quarter-finals line-up (x denotes seeded player):
Novak Djokovic (SRB x1) v David Goffin (BEL x21)
Guido Pella (ARG x26) v Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP x23)
Sam Querrey (USA) v Rafael Nadal (ESP x3)
Kei Nishikori (JPN x8) v Roger Federer (SUI x2)
Wimbledon women's singles quarter-finals line-up (x denotes seeded player):
Alison Riske (USA) v Serena Williams (USA x11)
Barbora Strycova (CZE) v Johanna Konta (GBR x19)
Elina Svitolina (UKR x8) v Karolina Muchova (CZE)
Simona Halep (ROM x7) v Zhang Shuai (CHN)
