'Bomb should explode': Tennis star erupts in shocking Wimbledon rant

To many players Wimbledon's manicured lawns are the finest grass courts in the world, but seemingly not to Fabio Fognini, who cursed the English and said he wished a bomb would explode at the All England Club on Saturday.

In apparent frustration at playing his third-round match on Court 14, one of Wimbledon's smaller outside courts, the Italian lost his cool during his third-round straight-sets defeat by Tennys Sandgren.

"It’s fair to play here? Damn English, really. Damned, really," he said during his 6-3 7-6(12) 6-3 loss.

"Wish a bomb would explode on this club. A bomb should explode here."

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Fognini, whose fiery temper earned him a suspended two Grand Slam ban for abusing the umpire at the U.S. Open in 2017, later told reporters he was not happy with the court, and apologised if he had offended anyone.

"The court was not really good... Most of the time when you're on court, you're frustrated," he said.

"For sure I was not happy about my performance today because I was knowing I have a lot to win in this case, because I was thinking I have a good chance to win," he added.

"I say sorry. If somebody feel offended, I say sorry. No problem."

Williams and Murray through on centre court

Andy Murray is happy he ended his Centre Court exile with Serena Williams at his side as Wimbledon's new power couple got their mixed doubles pairing off to a flying start.

The former world No.1 was back on his favourite court 724 days after he hobbled off in 2017 and he and the 23-time grand-slam winner beat Andreas Mies and Alexa Guarachi 6-4 6-1 on their debut outing on Saturday.

These two are used to winning on Centre Court - they have claimed nine singles titles between them - and they proved that no matter how new the partnership, old habits die hard.

"For me it was a great experience being back on Centre Court with Serena after the last year or so being tough. It was nice. I enjoyed it," the Scot said.

"I think like towards the end of the match when you're kind of in control on the scoreboard, it's easier to sort of relax and enjoy it, whereas the first set, we were obviously taking it seriously to win."

Never has a mixed-doubles partnership received so much attention, but it did not disappoint as Williams' baseline power and Murray's guile at the net means they will be a real force in this discipline.

Williams admitted that she was feeling nervous beforehand, perhaps which accounts for her playing the first two points of the match with her accreditation lanyard around her neck, but the American performed better than she expected.

"I didn't even want to be in it, I kind of just wanted to watch it. Maybe I'll try to get a video of it or watch it somewhere," she said.

"Overall, I think I was able to handle my nerves pretty good, do better than I thought I was going to do.

"It's definitely awesome to share a court with Andy, especially this particular stage. Like I said, whenever you're a grand-slam winner, you always learn something.

"But, yeah, we are still young in our relationship on the court. We still have a lot to learn."

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