Neal Skupski admits he’s more nervous about his upcoming game of Padel with Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp than the men’s doubles final at Wimbledon
Neal Skupski will be on edge before Saturday’s men’s doubles final at Wimbledon — but reckons he will be more nervous before a game of Padel with Jurgen Klopp.
The Liverpool fanatic, born and bred in the city, has been due to take on the German manager at the Melwood training ground, but it has yet to materialise.
‘It just hasn’t happened yet,’ said the 33 year-old, who with Dutch partner Wesley Koolhof will tackle 15th seeded Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos today.
‘There was a chance to do it before the French Open in early May, but he pulled his hamstring celebrating on the touchline and that stopped us. I knew as soon as I saw it.
‘Jurgen plays Padel with all the staff and some of the players and seems to be decent. We will have to see how good he is.
Neal Skupski has admitted his more nervous about his plans with Jurgen Klopp than the men’s doubles final at Wimbledon on Saturday
The Wimbledon finalist has been promised a game of Padel with the Liverpool boss
‘I still haven’t met him. He’s the manager of Liverpool and I will be so nervous — more nervous than playing a Wimbledon final.’
The match was originally arranged at Wimbledon last summer when Skupski met Reds assistant manager Pep Lijnders.
For now he needs to concentrate on becoming the first British men’s doubles champion at SW19 since Jonathan Marray in 2012.
Twice a champion in mixed, Skupski would become the first British man to win titles in three consecutive years since Fred Perry. Like Perry, Skupski has a slightly unusual background for a tennis player.
Having grown up in Liverpool, the son of a policeman who played in goal for non-league Marine, he got a scholarship to Louisiana State University and has gone on to establish himself as one of the world’s best doubles players.
Skupski and Dutch partner Wesley Koolhof will compete in Wimbledon’s men’s doubles final
If he can lift the trophy it will come 10 years after Andy Murray won his first Wimbledon title. At the time, Skupski was a graduate struggling to make it in singles and deciding his future probably lay in doubles. ‘I was watching it in the living room in Liverpool,’ he said. ‘I was on the edge of my seat and had sweaty palms.
‘Back then, I didn’t know Andy as a person. I knew him because he was a British tennis player, but you couldn’t really get to him because he had this team around him.
‘Now I feel he is just one of the lads, I speak to him all the time. It is a lot easier to approach him. It doesn’t mean his aura has gone away, he is still Sir Andy Murray.’
