Wimbledon star chugs beer in press conference and wears hat fans will love

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova rocked up to her post-match press conference chugging a bottle of beer and wearing a Wimbledon-themed hat. The Russian was beaten 6-1 7-6 in her quarter-final clash with Amanda Anisimova and later blamed Court 1 for unsettling her game.

Pavlyuchenkova admits she struggled to match the speed of the court and was disappointed not to have made what would have been only her second Grand Slam semi-final appearance. The 34-year-old did not let those ill feelings show in her press conference, though. She waltzed into the media room, took several swigs from a bottle of Stella Artois beer, and placed the beverage behind the desk, before answering questions about the match. All while wearing a white strawberry-themed hat that will go down with Wimbledon fans.

She said: "First set, I have to give [Anisimova] credit because I thought she was playing incredible. I couldn't touch the ball at the beginning. It was coming really fast to me. The court was completely different. It was my first time playing on Court 1. I found it very, very fast and the grass even shorter. In a way it was different.

"I don't have [the] luxury of playing on these big courts just because the previous match, okay, we played on Centre, but I thought it was slower and different. Obviously, her game was different. So it took me a while to get adjusted.

"Then, I mean, it's not like it was too late, but when I actually started to feel better, it was already 6-1, 5-2. Then I just fought till the end. I gave everything I had. Came back from match points down and had 6-3 in the second set. So that really sucks."

It has been a remarkable turnaround for the former world No. 11, who earlier this year was bedridden with Epstein-Barr virus, an illness that affects the glands and can make people very fatigued.

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She was unsure whether she would ever return to the latter stages of a Grand Slam tournament, having formerly been a French Open finalist and a quarter-finalist in each of the other three majors.

Pavlyuchenkova was visibly emotional after her match, and continued: "I couldn't stop crying after the match for, like, 20 minutes. I don't know if it's the fact I don't know if it was my last chance to do something big, given [I was] not sure if I will be able to even play or practice earlier this year after Australia and even before during pre-season and all this viruses and Lyme disease. I've just been through so much this year.

"Given that I was diagnosed with Epstein-Barr earlier this year, and I thought pre-season I couldn't even practice, I didn't know if I be even here now. I kind of have to be happy what I've done the last three weeks."

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