Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray compete off the tennis court
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Defending Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal and fourth-seeded Andy Murray will play in a much-anticipated semifinal Friday at the All England Lawn and Tennis Club. The Centre Court crowd will cheer wildly for Murray, trying to become the first man from Great Britain since Fred Perry in 1936 to win the title.
And it turns out that Nadal and Murray don’t keep their competing to just the tennis court. They also play PlayStation soccer.
‘We play PlayStation outside the court when we are in the same hotels in the tournament, ‘ Nadal said. ‘Now he doesn’t really want to play any more. He lost the last few times. Seriously, that’s true. He lost almost every time with his friend, Danny, against [Juan] Monaco and me.’
Murray did a little trash talking about the PlayStation rivalry after he had beaten Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
‘He actually isn’t very good at PlayStation,’ Murray said. ‘His partner is very good. He plays with Juan Monaco and Juan Monaco is very good. Rafa’s not that good.
‘We were actually talking about it before we went out to play our matches today because I was playing this [golf] putting game and I missed the putt. I blamed the putter and he said, ‘You always have an excuse on the PlayStation. ‘Well, because we always play with their rules.... They play with Inter Milan (a powerful soccer club) and we’re not allowed to play with Inter Milan even though they’re the best team in the game. We have to play with a different team. Once the game starts you’re not allowed to make substitutions. It’s just all their rules. So when we lose, we’re a little bit like, ‘Yeah, we blame the rules they have.’ ‘
It will be about tennis only Friday, though, and there will be no partners involved.
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-- Diane Pucin, reporting from Wimbledon, England