Wimbledon diary: Nadal's in a good mood, Medvedev's odd behaviour

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  • Reason to be happy: Nadal.

    It’s not every day Rafael Nadal is cracking jokes and having a good time in a press conference but the Spaniard was in a great mood when he spoke to us after his 6-4, 6-2, 7-5 win over Donal Young on Wednesday to make the third round here for the first time since 2014.

    Nadal was first asked about whether signing a prosthetic limb, which he did after his match, was the weirdest thing he had ever signed. The No4 seed looked at the reporter, winked and said with a cheeky laugh: “Probably not.”

    The presser was interrupted by a loud announcement from the speakers about the Wimbledon grounds closing to the public. Nadal looked at the moderator and joked: “Should we leave then?” in attempt to end the press conference prematurely.

    Another reporter quizzed him about having doubts, in his life and on the tennis court, and Nadal gave a reflective answer about how having doubts is part of his life, and that it’s tougher to deal with them the older you get.

    Later he was answering a different question and said: “Of course it’s better to be No1 than be No2 or be No5, of course. No doubt about that.”

    He then looked at the other reporter who had asked him about doubts and said with a laugh: “With that, I don’t have doubts.”

    When talking about his next opponent, NextGen star Karen Khachanov, Nadal had good things to say about the young Russian’s talent.

    “He has a great future. Hopefully not after tomorrow,” he grinned.

    Before leaving the room, he signed an autograph for a Spanish reporter, and asked her the name of the person to direct the message to.

    Nadal is clearly enjoying his time this Wimbledon.

    SHAVING LEGS

    Meanwhile, Heather Watson was also in a buoyant mood after he second round win against Anastasija Sevastova. The British wildcard is looking to reach the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time and said her coach Morgan Phillips said he’s shave his head if she pulled it off. She suggested he shave his legs instead to his girlfriend doesn’t kill him. That sounds like a fair compromise!

    NOTES TO A YOUNG ANDY

    Elsewhere, Andy Murray was asked about what advice he’d give his younger self. The world No1 said with a smile: “I’d give more than two.

    “I mean, there are so many things that you’d do differently. I think, to be honest, I mean, I think everyone is the same. I mean, maybe I would have changed some of the ways that I trained to maybe avoid the back surgery in the middle of my career. That was difficult and probably could have been avoided.

    “I would have enjoyed the earlier part of my career more, for sure. You know, I wish I’d done that. I found, you know, the years maybe between like 21 and 24, 25 quite difficult at different stages. I mean, there are a couple of things. I definitely would enjoy my tennis more at the beginning part of my career, that’s for sure. Yeah, there were a couple of things.”

    MONEY TALKS

    Apologetic: Medvedev.

    Apologetic: Medvedev.

    On court, Russian Daniil Medvedev reacted poorly to his second round defeat to Ruben Bemelmans in five sets. Medvedev, who upset Stan Wawrinka in the opening round, was angry at the umpire and bizarrely rummaged through his bag and got out some coins which he at her chair, but later apologised and denied it was an indication that she was corrupt.

    “I was disappointed with the result of the match. It was frustrating after a big win I had. All the match was not going well for me. So I was just very disappointing. In the heat of the moment, I did a bad thing. I apologise for this,” said the 21-year-old, who was disqualified from a match last year for “question[ing] the impartiality of the umpire based on her race”, according to a USTA statement.

    Medvedev said the coin-throwing “didn’t mean anything”.

    “It was just that I was packing my things and I saw my wallet,” he explains. “As I said, in the heat of the moment, I did a stupid thing. So I was ready to leave the court, but that’s what happened.”

    We hope he gathered his coins after that because he might need them to pay a fine for bad behaviour on court.

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