Nick Kyrgios was in a cheerful mood in his pre-event press conference as he showed up to discuss his opener against Radek Stepanek, which will no doubt be a fun affair. Bring your popcorn, folks!
The young Aussie revealed that Stepanek, who at 37 is 16 years his senior, is a good friend of his and had actually offered to help him on tour a little bit, considering Kyrgios has no coach.
“Not so much coaching. Yeah, he was just helping me a little bit. So it’s just, like, I’m playing him now, it’s pretty crazy,” said Kyrgios.
Good mood or not, there was bound to be an edgy moment from the world No. 18, although this one might have been justified and more on the hilarious side.
He was asked a question about Novak Djokovic, and what stands out in his game, and after answering, the same reporter questioned him on who he thought the favourite for the Wimbledon title was.
“Probably Djokovic. It’s a silly question,” Kyrgios said smiling. “No more questions for you, bro.”
Another journalist wondered if he has been following the rugby and his views on England beating Australia. The response was: “I’ve been playing computer games.”
Konta’s not-so special locker
Britain’s Johanna Konta is a top-16 seed for the first time at Wimbledon, which means she gets to be in the special locker room dedicated to top-16 seeds. She let out a secret though. There’s no big difference between either locker room.
“I think it was more just, you know, being excited to see if there’s any difference in the locker rooms,” Konta said. “But the showers are the same size. The towels look the same. I think, yeah, once that initial excitement ‘oh, it’s something new’, then, yeah, you start thinking about things that are more important.”
Federer won’t be left behind
On the practice courts, Roger Federer had an interesting choice of practice partner, Jiri Vesely – the only player besides Andy Murray to defeat Novak Djokovic in a complete match this year.
That’s not the reasoning behind the choice thought since Czech Vesely is a lefty which makes him an appropriate preparation for Federer’s first round opponent, the left-handed Guido Pella.