– Sportsmanship comes to the fore as Nadal battles past Smyczek

There are a few things you come to expect from players in any interview.

“I never look at the draw”, “every opponent is tough”, “I will try my best”, “I will try to win matches and the ranking will come naturally”, are just a few of the clichés doing the rounds every day.

One more thing you can count on when having a conversation with a player? A random segue into a Roger Federer tribute that could last up to 15 minutes. 

The other day, Feliciano Lopez, who at 33 is enjoying a career-high ranking of No12, explained to us how much he admires Federer.

“He floats on the court. He is absolutely unreal. He is super-gifted mentally and his movements are so perfect that he always looks great in photos. When we get photographed, we’re always stretched like this (mimes a long stretch) or look like this (gives  weird face). With Federer, his photos always show him standing perfectly upright,” said the Spaniard.

On the same day, Serena Williams was asked what she considers the beauty of tennis to be and who in the game she perceived as beautiful and graceful.

She said: “When you mention graceful, the first person that comes to mind is Roger Federer. Everything he does is so smooth.”

The ‘Year of the Back’

Speaking of beautiful, we must give props to Nike for their bold designs this Australian Open.

The neon colours sported by many of their athletes are perfectly suited for the “Happy Slam” and Williams’ open-back yellow and pink dress was spot on.

The world No1 spoke about her dress and apparently, 2015 is the ‘Year of the Back’.

“I’ve been more focused on different parts of the body. Throughout the years we went for a more conservative look. This year we really wanted to bring out a powerful woman and a strong woman. So we wanted to do was to focus on the beautiful back,” she explained. 

Williams admitted that wearing a more revealing outfit can often make her feel a tad self-conscious.

“First of all, I feel like I don’t want to eat too much,” she laughed. “One peanut and I’m going to break the dress! But this one is really trendy and young, but at the same time it also has a great message.”