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Best Quotes from Wimbledon: 'Vampires or Umpires?'

July 01, 2014 09:30 IST
Alize Cornet of France kisses the grass as she celebrates winning her third round match against Serena Williams of the United States

As Wimbledon heads into the home stretch, here are some memorable quotes from the first week of the grasscourt Grand Slam.

"A few years ago I couldn't play on grass, I was so bad. I didn't like grass. It was just a pain to come here.

"I think [the kiss] it's very symbolic because it means 'now I love you grass and I didn't before'. It deserved a kiss, I think."

Frenchwoman Alize Cornet on kissing the grass after her shock 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 third round victory against American top seed Serena Williams.

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'I'm perfectly fine being single at the moment'

July 01, 2014 09:30 IST
Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark plays a forehand during her first round match against Shahar Peer of Israel

"I think I'm not that desperate! I'm perfectly fine being single at the moment.

"It's pretty hard to sweep me off my feet. It would have to take someone very special."

On Lopez: "You noticed? He's a great guy. He's already making his way in through my dad? This is very awkward."

Dane Caroline Wozniacki on internet dating and her friendship with Spaniard Feliciano Lopez.

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'People have been trying to retire me since I was like 25'

July 01, 2014 09:30 IST
Venus Williams of the United States takes a break during a change of ends in her third round match against Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic

"No, people have been trying to retire me since I was like 25. For some reason in tennis we always do that to our players.

"It's weird. We don't encourage them to stick around. It's like, Get out of here. So I'm not getting out of here."

When asked whether she plans to retire, seven-times Grand Slam winner Venus Williams was steadfast in her response.

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'Get rid of vampires? My God. Umpires?'

July 01, 2014 09:30 IST
Ernests Gulbis reacts during his first round match against Jurgen Zopp of Estonia

"Get rid of vampires? My God. Umpires? I thought something else.

"I thought vampires in the way the people who are surrounding and sucking the energy out of players. That's what I meant. Umpires, no. Without umpires, it wouldn't work. So please delete it. No, umpires. Cannot work without umpires. I thought it was vampires. You know what I mean?"

Latvia's Ernests Gulbis mishearing a question regarding John McEnroe's comments about umpires.

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'The only things I don't like is the rules. Wimbledon's rules. White colour'

July 01, 2014 09:30 IST
Fabio Fognini of Italy during his second round match against Tim Puetz of Germany

"Maybe I can play one more game I'm in the shower."

On the Rules: "The only things I don't like is the rules. Wimbledon's rules. White colour. Maybe if you see today I crash the rackets in my knee because maybe the court is really soft. I can damage a lot."

Italian world number 15 Fabio Fognini on his hurry to finish his match against South African Kevin Anderson and the strict rules at Wimbledon.

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'The umpire just told me, Hawkeye doesn't work because it's too dark'

July 01, 2014 09:30 IST
Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic during his third round match against Marin Cilic of Croatia

"I lost all the will to talk to that guy anymore. I saw so many mistakes from him. He (the umpire) just told me, Hawkeye doesn't work because it's too dark.

"If... some machine doesn't work because we don't have enough light, then why do we have to play? I didn't even have the energy to talk to him when we should stop."

Czech world number six Tomas Berdych on the umpire after his match against Croatia's Marin Cilic finished at 9.38pm local time - the latest finish at Wimbledon outside Centre Court - and was so dark Hawkeye wasn't working.

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'Today was a bit of rap, actually. I came out really flat'

July 01, 2014 09:30 IST
Nick Kyrgios of Australia celebrates during his singles third round match against Jiri Vesely of Czech Republic

"It's usually a mixture of things. Depends on how I'm feeling on the day.

"Today was a bit of rap, actually. I came out really flat, so hopefully I won't listen to that again. It was actually Drake. Yeah. Didn't do the job for me."

Australian 19-year-old Nick Kyrgios blamed his poor start against Czech Jiri Vesely on his choice of pre-match music.

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'I think it's a matter of playing less worse than you do on other surfaces'

July 01, 2014 09:30 IST
Milos Raonic of Canada plays a backhand return during his third round match against Lukasz Kubot of Poland

"I don't think really for anybody that it's a surface that anybody can say they play their best tennis on grass.

"I think it's a matter of playing less worse than you do on other surfaces."

Canada's world number nine Milos Raonic on the Wimbledon grass.