Net Flicks: Gauff's time limit, a very polished coach and royal rumblings
WIMBLEDON, Great Britain - There is an advised limit as to how much Cori 'Coco' Gauff should talk during Wimbledon. Whenever the 15-year-old qualifier is speaking to the media, someone is keeping an eye on the clock to ensure her welfare.
On and off the court, there are age restrictions on Gauff, the youngest Wimbledon qualifier in the post-1968 Open Era, who followed up her victory over her idol Venus Williams on Monday by beating Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova to reach the third round.
READ MORE: 'My mindset improved, so my tennis changed' - Gauff
To avoid burn-out, she can only play a certain number of tournaments per year, according WTA rules. What many might not have appreciated is that the WTA also scrutinize the off-court activities of competitors under the age of 18. As a duty of care, it is advised that the teenagers do not over-commit to media requests and other engagements per tournament.
Gauff, who plays Slovenia's Polona Hercog on Friday for a place in the last 16, will carry on doing her post-match press conference but, beyond that, discretion will be operated given the intense level of media interest that her story has generated.
SOME tennis players don't change their superstitions and routines regardless of outcome. Serena Williams continues to select Practice Court No. 8 at the Aorangi Park practice facility, where she trains with her coach Patrick Mouratoglou and hitting partner. That was the same court she practised on throughout last summer's Championships - when she ultimately lost in the final to Angelique Kerber.
Andy Murray is similarly repetitive but prefers a different court at Aorangi Park.
READ MORE: Philosophy, painting and friendship: Getting to know Serena's Wimbledon opponent Kaja Juvan
One of them is going to have to compromise when they prepare for their mixed doubles first round; which one of them is going to move from their favoured training spot?
WHICH leading male coach was walking around the All England Club wearing blood-red fingernail polish? That was the consequence of losing a bet to his WTA player, who had applied the polish herself in the morning. During a match, she looked over and laughed when she saw him clapping with his red fingernails. But that wasn't the only unusual accessory of the week, with former champion Maria Sharapova wearing a nose strip during her opening-round defeat.
WHILE the Duchess of Cambridge is the patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, she had a relatively low-key visit to the tournament this week, even sitting on one of the outside courts before making her way to the Royal Box on Centre Court. Likewise her sister-in-law, the Duchess of Sussex, was away from the primary showcourt on Thursday, watching close friend Serena Williams beat Kaja Juvan on Court 1. It was Serena who organised her baby shower in New York earlier this year.
IN A BREAK from tradition at the All England Club this summer, umpires are no longer calling women's players 'Miss' or 'Mrs' when announcing the score, and they have also dropped the 'Mr' for the men. But that doesn't mean that you won't ever hear the umpires addressing the players formally; that will happen if the officials give the competitors a code violation for swearing, hitting the grass with their rackets, thrashing the ball out of the stadium, or any other misdemeanour.
