The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived at Wimbledon today ready to cheer on Andy Murray in his quarter-final clash at Wimbledon.
William and Kate took their seats in the royal box on Centre Court alongside Princess Beatrice and her long-term boyfriend, Dave Clark, comedian Michael McIntyre and England rugby union coach, Stuart Lancaster.
Murray, 27, will take on Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov, 23, in the second match on Centre Court. In the players’ box, Murray’s girlfriend Kim Sears, 26, is expected to cheer alongside Dimitrov’s girlfriend, tennis player Maria Sharapova, 27, who suffered a shock defeat by Angelique Kerber yesterday.
Australian teenager Nick Kyrgios is also back on court today after beating world number one Rafael Nadal in a match even his own mother thought he would lose. The 19-year-old produced one of the greatest shocks in the tournament’s history by defeating the Spaniard in four sets last night.
Murray and Dimitrov know each other well and, on the eve of Wimbledon, Murray’s fitness trainer Jez Green took part in a charity 200-metre race against Dimitrov’s coach Roger Rasheed. Their friendship even led to Murray grabbing a hair dryer and brush to assist with Dimitrov’s hair cut during a tournament in Rome in The 23-year-old Bulgarian was clearly pleased with the job, declaring it was ‘beautiful’, but the pair will both be in a serious frame of mind when their match begins this afternoon.
Wild-card entrant Kyrgios arrived at Wimbledon ranked 144th in the world, and will leave having reached at least number 65. He revealed that his mother Norlaila did not think he had the quality to beat Nadal.
‘I was actually reading a comment that she thought Rafa was too good for me,’ he said. ‘It actually made me a bit angry. You would think he’s in a whole other level compared to me. I just believed in myself that I could create some opportunities. I took them under pressure.’ He said he would send his mother a text message with a smiley face following his win. Kyrgios also produced the shot of the tournament with a casual flick between his legs midway through the second set. He seemed surprised with how the match went, posting a message on Twitter which simply read: ‘Erm, ok then………..’ Kyrgios wrote last week that he wanted 25,000 Twitter followers by the end of Wimbledon and he cracked the milestone mid-way through the match. He now has more than 59,000.
Meanwhile three-time Wimbledon champion John McEnroe was so impressed by Kyrgios’s performance that he believes he could emulate Boris Becker by winning the title in his teens.
McEnroe, commentating at the tournament for the BBC, reckoned Kyrgios had the look of a champion about him as he demolished Nadal’s title hopes.
‘I could see it from the commentators’ box, that he absolutely believed he was going to win this match, and he’s acting to me like he can win this tournament,’ McEnroe said.
‘The last guy I saw like this is … Boris Becker, that young teenager, no fear whatsoever – ‘no matter what comes my way I’m going to be better than them’.’Becker won Wimbledon in 1985 at the age of 17.
