By Chris Oddo | Sunday July 3, 2016

 

Dustin Brown tells people to just let Nick Kyrgios play tennis, middle Sunday musings, Sveta unplugged and more in the clippings.

Photo Source: CameraSport

Each day at Wimbledon we’ll bring you a burst of what we’re reading to help you keep your fingers on the pulse. Here’s what we’re reading on Day 7 of the Championships:

Kyrgios: A Question is Just a Question

1. Brown Has Nick Kyrgios’ Back

Nick Kyrgios is clearly maturing as a tennis player and as a human being. But that doesn’t mean he’s perfect or that he will be able to avoid the intermittent dust-up with the umpire. Dustin Brown told reporters on Friday that we should just let Nick play tennis, and you know what, he makes a good point.

“I'm pretty sure everyone that knows Nick, knows Nick is a great tennis player,” Brown said. “You know that if certain things happen and there are a few bad call, I mean, all of us have gotten upset on the court already for bad calls, especially in certain moments. And like I said, on the other side, I think I'm almost close to 10 years older. I don't know. I was definitely not any better or worse at 21. The guy is 18 in the world. The guy is 21. Let the guy play tennis. I'm pretty sure in a few years, he will also have that sorted and then he's probably going to be even better. Read more about it from Tennis.com’s Kamakshi Tandon here.

2. Murray Talks Twitter Abuse

There’s been quite a bit of talk of Twitter abuse during week one at Wimbledon. Kevin Anderson received death threats and Heather Watson called out Twitter trolls for their lack of intelligence for betting on tennis in the first place. Andy Murray followed up about his own experiences with Twitter trolls, saying he plays it smart and deletes Twitter from his phone during big competitions. Simon Cambers wrote about it for the Telegraph

3. Wimbledon Rain Delays Give Top Players Edge

We tweeted about it earlier in the week. Rain delays can be a little unfair to all but the top players, because at Wimbledon only Centre Court (think big names like Federer, Serena Williams, etc…) plays on while the other players are forced to endure delays and often suspensions. After his third-round win on Friday Roger Federer was asked if he felt guilty about being the only men’s player through to the round of 16. Should he feel that way? He said the better players usually win down the stretch, and it cuts different ways, which is true, to an extent. Nick McCarvel of USA Today explored the topic in the press room and he takes a closer look in his recent column.

4. Wimbledon’s Middle Sunday is a Reality

Did you know why Wimbledon’s middle Sunday is one of the most delightful days in tennis? Well, if you don’t it’s understandable—it’s only happened three times in history previously. Sunday makes four, and ESPN’s Mark Hodgkinson writes a nice piece about the day. In it he interviews Tim Henman, who had this to say about playing on a rare middle Sunday at Wimbledon. "It's going to be so inspiring and amazing for the players on Sunday," Henman told ESPN. "It will be something very few of them -- if any of them -- have experienced before. "The matches I played on Middle Sunday at Wimbledon, they were played in two of the best atmospheres of my career. It was just so different." 

5. There was good news about Day 5 rain delays

Apparently there was a lovely double rainbow on Day 5. Okay, then all this week one chaos has been worth it.

6. Flink on Delpo’s Emotional Win

We were just a few rows behind Steve Flink for the duration of Juan Martin del Potro’s match with Stan Wawrinka on Day 5. Which it was why it was nice to read his take on Del Potro’s biggest moment of 2016. Who knew he would do so well in his first Grand Slam in two and a half years? Del Potro started slow but finished mighty and he’s into the third round with an air of “you never know.” At Wimbledon. Steve Flink tells the story of the Tower of Tandil’s quest to become a dangerous player again.

7. Federer Acknowledges Roche’s Impact on his Process

Roger Federer held court after his third-round victory over Dan Evans, opening up on many different topics. One thing that caught my ear but then breezed right past me on a busy night was Federer’s mention of former coach Tony Roche. It was part of a larger conversation about training and learning to be disciplined. "Then also I think actually Tony Roche helped me in a big way, just getting my mind right in the sense, sort of old-school, just being able to do hour after hour after hour,” Federer said. “Ever since, it's not been a problem to do that now."

Linda Pearce of the Age writes about Federer's connection with Roche here

8. Sveta, Unplugged

Svetlana Kuznetsova sat down with Courtney Nguyen, WTA Insider, for a recent edition of the Insider Podcast. The Russian talks about tennis, art and art-tennis.