Courtside

Federer's musical mad

Roger Federer revealed a penchant for musicals and said he was moved to tears watching 'Finding Neverland' in New York.

"We don't have that many musicals in Switzerland," said 35-year-old Federer, who is aiming to win his 18th Grand Slam in Melbourne.

"I went to see 'Singin' in the Rain' in Perth. I met the cast afterwards. I really enjoyed that. I saw 'Hamilton' and 'Finding Neverland' in New York. I liked both of those. They were completely different. 'Finding Neverland' was super emotional. We were all crying, all seven people that were there. My daughters, my wife, my mom, everybody."

Federer said he also enjoyed watching Bradley Cooper in 'The Elephant Man' in London.

"The amount of memorizing (actors) have to do, I find that mind-blowing. I'm not very good at remembering stuff like that. I'm always one of the first guys to give standing ovations because these guys are amazing."

Sweary censure for Sears

Andy Murray said his wife, Kim Sears, will have to cut out the swearing during his matches now he has become a knight.

Sears was infamously caught using foul language during the Australian Open semifinals in 2015, when Murray was playing Czech rival Tomas Berdych. But Murray, knighted in Britain's New Year Honors, said his wife couldn't get away with such behavior now.

"No more swearing during my matches any more, for any of you who saw that a few years ago," the Scot replied when asked what his knighthood would change for Sears.

Kyrgios drops a bomb

Australia's Nick Kyrgios hit a bum note during a well-attended practice session when a flying ball hit a young spectator square on the head at Melbourne Park.

According to the Herald Sun, Kyrgios smacked a ball into the air as high as he could, and it came down hard on the head of a young girl, drawing a collective intake of breath from the spectators. But the girl was reportedly more surprised and embarrassed than hurt.

Earlier this month, trouble-prone Kyrgios tweeted that he would have been "suspended until 2025" for an incident involving Novak Djokovic, who hit a loose ball close to an official while playing in Doha.

Appetite for destruction

The racket had it coming. It had been annoying him for some time and deserved it, according to Alexander Zverev.

So the 19-year-old from Germany took matters into his own hands and smashed it twice into the Hisense Arena ground at the start of the fourth set in his first-round clash with Robin Haase on Tuesday.

It worked. The cathartic release ended a flurry of unforced errors and double faults flying off his racket and enabled him to fight back and advance to the second round with a 6-2, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 victory over the 29-year-old Dutchman.

"I think letting my frustration out in the beginning of the fourth helped me a little bit," Zverev said.

"Sometimes you just have to let go."

Agencies