Agassi snaps at commentator as DiCaprio spotted ‘flirting’ at Wimbledon
Fans were convinced Leonardo DiCaprio was up to his old tricks in the royal box - but Andre Agassi did not want to hear about it.
Tennis
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Andre Agassi endured a frustrating start to his commentary debut with the BBC as Leonardo DiCaprio led a swag of stars in the royal box at Wimbledon overnight Friday.
DiCaprio, fellow actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Rami Malek, and Indian cricket great Sachin Tendulkar were among the big names seated on centre court for the men’s semi-finals - which saw Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner set up a repeat of the recent French Open final.
Agassi’s tennis mind, and ability to translate it into a digestible offering for fans, is almost unparalleled - and he was keen to get into the finer points of the game as Alcaraz battled to a 6-4 5-7 6-3 7-6 (8-6) win against Taylor Fritz before Sinner demolished Novak Djokovic 6-3 6-3 6-4.
But his co-commentator Andrew Castle had only one topic in mind - the stars on show.
As the camera panned to the celeb seats, Castle began talking about the actors on hand.
“Benedict Cumberbatch and the bloke who knocked off James Bond, Rami Malek, that’s no good. I’d be nervous sitting next to him,” he began.
Agassi replied: “Which Bond did he knock off?”
Former tennis star Castle then said: “Daniel Craig. That was it, over.”
The camera then showed more Hollywood stars, but Castle again brought up Rami Malek.
He said: “There’s Rami Malek there, do you remember that?”
“Don’t ask me stuff like that,” Agassi retorted. “I don’t know.”
It began to get awkward as Tendulkar appeared on screen and Castle asked the eight-time slam winner: “What do you know about cricket?”
Agassi again reminded his colleague: “Do not ask me about people that you show on television because this is my weakness.”
The 1992 Wimbledon champion did his best to get back to the on-court action.
“I can just make one comment here that’s short of a prediction, we saw Taylor go to another level of risk with his serve, which dropped his percentage but then paid off for him,” Agassi began.
“We saw him go to another level of risk with the backhand … go ahead if you want to say something.”
But Castle butted in again with more celebrity spotting.
“That’s Elaine Paige, she’s a musical theatre star, but she’s also president of the Dan Maskell Tennis Trust, they support disabled tennis very much.”
When Agassi again said he did not know the stars, Castle joked: “Let’s test. This is Andre Agassi and this is guess the royal box member”.
It got another catty retort from Agassi who slapped down his co-commentator, adding: “Don’t torture me, let me finish my point.”
“That was Nick Clegg, our former deputy prime minister,” Castle persisted.
An exhausted Agassi finally snapped and declared: “People watching are watching for tennis, not for this.”
Fans convinced DiCaprio ‘flirting’ with tennis stars
During the second set of the match, the BBC cameras cut away to the crowd after Alcaraz won a point.
The cameras caught DiCaprio, 50, being introduced to the pair who were sitting behind him.
The Catch Me If You Can star could be seen having a conversation with them before shaking the hand of Cibulkova.
Fans spotted the encounter and reacted on social media with many believing DiCaprio could have been trying to “flirt”.
One posted: “Leonardo DiCaprio in the stands and a few girls suddenly forget they came for tennis. That’s what happens when Hollywood meets Wimbledon.”
A second wrote: “Leonardo DiCaprio, kind of flirting with Garbine Muguruza at Wimbledon’s Centre Court.”
Cibulkova, 36, retired back in 2019, having reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals on three occasions.
Muguruza, 31, on the other hand, won the tournament back in 2017 as she beat Serena Williams in the final.
Sinner will be hoping to join her as a Wimbledon champion after crushing Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals to set up the latest instalment of his gripping rivalry with defending champion Alcaraz in Sunday’s final.
The world number one is through to his fourth successive Grand Slam title match — and his first at the All England Club - after a less than two hour demolition.
The 23-year-old will be desperate to avenge his painful French Open defeat against world number two Alcaraz after squandering three championship points in last month’s epic Roland Garros final.
Sinner and Alcaraz are the undisputed new kings of men’s tennis, claiming the past six majors between them.
- with AFP, The Sun
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