By Chris Oddo | Saturday July 8, 2017
Notable quotables from the press room of Wimbledon's first week.
Roger Federer
When asked if his head cold could mean the end for him, at his age. “It's extremely scary times for me right now.”
Caroline Woznacki
After her third round win over Anett Kontaveit, the Dane was asked if her good friend Serena Williams would consider making her an honorary aunt. “I would think so,” she said. “I would think I'm a great baby-sitter. I'm not sure she agrees. She has told me already some set rules that I'm not allowed to do that I usually -- I usually have candy around the house. That's not allowed any more. I'm trying to follow her rules, but we'll see.”
Tomas Berdych
The Czech is into the round 16 way under the radar, given that he’s a former finalist here. Berdych was asked what motivates him these days now that he’s 31. “I mean, these guys are 20, 22, and then, you know, when you are 10 years older … body reacts differently. So it's a nice kind of a challenge to still be able to hold with them, beat them, you know, challenge them. So that's one of the key things that keeps me always motivated right now that I still want to show them that it's, you know, it's not going to be easy with me.
Agnieszka Radwanska
The Pole reached the second week at Wimbledon for the ninth time on Saturday, and after her victory over Timea Bacsinszky, she explained jst how hard it is to progress through the first week of a major on the WTA side these days. “I think a couple of years ago those first two rounds when you didn't play against seeded players, it was easy,” Radwanska said. “I think you were just looking up on third round who was seeded, because those first rounds was really, like, you know, like you're there but you don't have to play 100% and you're gonna win.
“Obviously it's not gonna happen anymore in tennis right now. You can play first round those players that you really don't want to play in the first round, and that's why I think we can also see a lot of upsets in early rounds. Today in tennis it's in the stage that you really have to play 100%, because otherwise you're in big trouble.”
Daniil Medvedev
The Russian apologizes for his coin-throwing incident on Day 3. “In the heat of the moment, I did a bad thing. I apologize for this.”
Neil Stubley, Wimbledon Head Groundsman
The big man on campus gives tennis fans some insight as to why the courts might be a little more difficult to manage this year. “It's just about making sure that the hardness doesn't go too hard,” he said when asked what difference the heat makes. “The plant then gets stressed out too much because you're taking or losing too much moisture in the soil. We can measure that through the hardness readings. If they start going up higher, we know at the end of the evening we can start putting some water on it to bring those numbers back down so they're within range.”
Stubley went on to say the following, regarding complaints that certain courts were more unsafe than others: “Well, obviously we listen to players, because their feedback is important. But the data shows to us those courts that are in question are within range of the other courts, and they are within the range of previous years. That's all we can work to, is the data that we feel is best for the health of the courts.”
Andy Murray
Murray was asked to give his take on Bernard Tomic’s 15K worth of fines based on his “confessional” press conference after his loss to Adrian Mannarino in week one, and commented with the following: “Obviously you're being honest, which is a good thing. But if you're saying you're taking injury timeouts and stuff purely, you know, to try and throw the opponent's rhythm off, to use it tactically, that isn't good. Something has to happen with that. That's breaking the rules intentionally. I'm not saying he's the only player that does it. But, you know, if you go and say that, obviously you're going to get fined.”
Fabio Fognini
On receiving a point penalty for an obscenity: “That's a good question, because we can talk about here all the night. But the referee is French. So Italy, French, we always fighting. And they never won against us.”
Naomi Osaka
On the positives of playing against (and losing to) Venus Williams: “This is sort of a dream of mine, to play her. I can check that off my list. I actually feel like it's better that she beat me because I can learn more from her, and there's something more I can look forward to. There's more of a goal for me to practice every day and stuff.”
Elina Svitolina
The Ukranian came away pretty impressed by her own performance in the first set of her third-round win over Carina Witthoeft. “Yeah, in the first set I was playing amazing today,” she said. “From the hand of Midas probably.”
Sorana Cirstea
On what it was like in the immediate moments after Bethanie Mattek-Sands’ scary knee injury. “She started screaming. I went over. I saw her knee out,” Cirstea told reporters. “Then, yeah, I turned around and told them to bring a stretcher or something. Because I think everyone froze. No one was having any reaction. [It was] heartbreaking because she went into shock. Took a while until the medical team was there. I think for long time it was me, her husband and my physio. My physio jumped and he was there. Yeah, it's not easy because at the end of the day it's not about tennis any more. We are like a family. You want everyone to be okay. It doesn't matter you win, you lose, once you are out, you want them to be okay.”
Juan Martin del Potro
On what comes next after losing to Ernests Gulbis at Wimbledon. “I go home.”
Gael Monfils
Have to give most of the credit to the journalist who didn’t do his homework on this one:
Q. In the past when you've made it to the second week of Wimbledon, middle Sunday you have off, what do you usually do?
GAEL MONFILS: I never done it, so...
Simona Halep
Why players love Wimbledon. YOU. CAN. CHILL. Here’s what Simona Halep has been doing when not playing tennis at SW19. “It's first time when I stay here in the village. I have a house, very nice house. I'm just chilling. Yesterday I stay, like, six hours in the house, just staying. I don't want to go to do shopping because it's very far, and traffic, it's really hard. So I'm not doing anything special, just chilling, trying to enjoy this new experience to stay in the house. And I will repeat it. It's very nice.
Johanna Konta
Johanna Konta, on Day 3’s flying ant invasion: “There were many. It was interesting. It kind of went in stages. At one point there was a lot, and then actually towards the end of the match, I don't think there were that many. But I definitely have taken home a few both in my belly and in my bags.”
Thanasi Kokkinakis
On the fact that no Aussie men qualified for the second round. “Yeah, that hurts.”
Bernard Tomic
Describing his state of ennui during his first-round loss at Wimbledon: “I felt a little bit bored out there. You know, to be completely honest with you. So I tried at the end and stuff, he managed to win that set 6-3 or 6-4, but it was too late.”