Wimbledon loses second Kyrgios as Brit feared ‘bloody balls’

Wimbledon day one threw up plenty of talking points as Novak Djokovic sailed through and big names like Venus Williams and Coco Gauff fell at the first hurdle. But Express Sport were on the ground at Wimbledon picking up on the things you may have missed from the first day of the tournament…

Wimbledon loses a second Kyrgios

Wimbledon has lost what looked like would be a decent replacement for Nick Kyrgios. Fellow Australian Max Purcell gave himself a dressing down in an angry monologue, attempted an underarm serve, argued with the umpire and showed flashes of raw talent in just a couple of hours on court at SW19.

Sound familiar? The 25-year-old, who has shot up over 100 places in the rankings in recent times and is now 64 in the world, was good value for entertainment while he lasted but a self-inflicted collapse which saw him lose a second set that he had been leading 3-0 spelt the end for the Aussie as Andrey Rublev ran away in straight sets. Shame really, as the home crowd seemed to take to him and there is a sense he may have had a role to play given the lack of stardust and characters knocking about this year. No Nadal, no Raducanu, and perhaps most significantly, no Kyrgios. Who now is going to provide the box-office and TV gold moments?

Purcell looked a decent enough candidate for the job. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

Brit feared repeat after ‘bloody balls’

Jodie Burrage reached for a bag of Percy Pigs as she rushed to the aid of a ball boy who had taken a funny turn last year. And the Brit revealed she feared another incident after spotting blood on the balls during her first-round match.

Speaking after her 6-1, 6-3 win over Caty McNally, Burrage said: “I’ll definitely be celebrating tonight. Actually, I don’t even know why, but this year in the second set, there was blood on the balls. I thought it was Caty actually who had cut herself because she had the trainer on. It wasn’t. It was another ball kid who had cut their finger, and there was blood on the balls. I was thinking, Why does this always happen when I’m playing?

“Hopefully, next match we can get through plain sailing. Yeah, we’ll wait and see what happens.”

Carota Boys spotted

Jannik Sinner fan group the Carota Boys, who rose to fame at the French Open, were spotted at Wimbledon for the Italian’s opening match against Francisco Cerundolo.

The veggie-themed cheer squad’s costumes are inspired by Sinner’s hair colour and his tendency to snack on carrots on court. And just like at Roland Garros, the fans lapped them up as every man and his dog tried to get pictures of or with them.

Unimpressed Belarusian star gives spicy answers

Victoria Azarenka told a reporter his question was ‘poor’ in an awkward exchange during a post-match Wimbledon interview.

Azarenka was asked what Wimbledon means to Russia, to which she replied: “You do know I’m not from Russia, right?” The reporter then tried to clarify his question but Azarenka bluntly told him she couldn’t answer, saying: “You will have to spill it a bit more directly to me. I’m not understanding the question.” After asking him to clarify his question for a third time, the reporter apologised for asking a ‘poor question’.

Azarenka agreed, saying: “Yes, it is, but I’ll still answer it,” before adding: “I think on international stage, Wimbledon is undoubtedly one of the biggest tennis events, and it’s always been, and it’s the oldest tournament in history. So it’s iconic. It is iconic. How it is in Russia, I’m not from Russia, I can’t really tell you how it feels in Russia.”