Wimbledon star issues apology for behaviour during on-court interview | Tennis | Sport
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina has apologised after his Wimbledon interview went viral for the wrong reasons. Davidovich Fokina, 27, saw his interview spread across social media after his abrupt answers following the first-round straight-sets win over Juan Manuel Cerundolo.
The right-hander was surprisingly short with media outlet Movistar+ following his triumph on Court 17. However, days later, the Spaniard moved to make amends, explaining his brief interview and issuing an apology to the reporter on the receiving end of the awkward encounter at SW19. Davidovich Fokina was in a positive mood on Wednesday after continuing his form on grass, moving into the third round with a win over Hungarian Fabian Marozsan in straight sets.
Davidovich Fokina overcame the Argentine, Cerundolo, in unusually sweltering heat at Wimbledon with a tie-breaker earning the triumph in two hours and 16 minutes in the first round. It was suggested that the Spaniard was exhausted due to the slog-fest with his opponent, which played its part in the short encounter with the journalist.
The 27-year-old was quickly in action after his ATP win in Mallorca four days earlier. When asked how he was feeling after his first-round win at Wimbledon, he said: “Bad,” before dismissing that he wasn’t tired. He was then asked to elaborate on why he wasn’t feeling well after his win. The 22nd seed said: “My whole body hurts.”
The reporter then wished the tennis star good luck for the next round. The clip was shared to social media, where it has been viewed over 500,000 times on platform X.
His second round exploits were somewhat simpler, beating Maroszan 6-3, 6-0, 6-3, dispatching him an hour quicker than Cerundolo. Following his win over the Hungarian, Davidovich Fokina went out of his way to make amends with the reporter.
“I just want to say sorry for the interview two days ago,” he said. “My back was hurting, I had a panic attack. I just wanted to go to the locker room.”
The reporter bore no grudges as he dismissed any ill feeling. Davidovich Fokina has his sights on the fourth round but will need to overcome another Hungarian opponent in the form of Marton Fucsovics.
A win over the 34-year-old could see him face Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, but the 25-year-old needs to overcome qualifier Michael Zeng in order to move into the fourth round. Davidovich Fokina has equalled his best performance at Wimbledon by reaching the third round. In seven attempts since 2018, he has never got beyond the last-32.
