Nick Kyrgios went from spit to spat after using his sense of injustice to fuel one of the performances of the Championships.
The Australian was back on court for the first time since spitting in the direction of a "disrespectful" fan and calling a female line judge a ‘snitch’ on Tuesday - conduct that earned him a £8,200 fine.
Letting his tennis do the talking he blasted 50 winners and 24 aces to brilliantly beat Filip Krajinovic on No2 Court and book a last-32 date with fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
“I didn't want to remind people that I'm good - I know I'm good,” said Kyrgios. “I just feel like I don't have the respect sometimes.”
The theme established, he took issue with his treatment by the media, adding: “This was just kind of a reminder to put you all back in your place.
“It's like me simply eating sushi here [during his interview] the other day, the disrespect, the things I got from that on social media. ‘Oh, he's so rude. He has no manners’.
“I literally played four hours and I needed food. Has anyone in this room played four hours of tennis in their life in a row? No.
“But there’s nothing you possibly could tell me I did wrong today. I’ve dumbfounded all of you.”
Kyrgios, who is unseeded and ranked 40 in the world, describes himself as “one of the biggest stars in the sport”.
Perhaps he needs to feel the world is against him to produce his best. If certainly worked for him yesterday.
Over on Centre Court Rafa Nadal took a step closer to his first Wimbledon final for 11 years - but was made to work for it by a little-known Lithuanian.
The No.2 seed saw off Ricardas Berankis in four sets - 6-4 6-4 4-6 6-3 - to book a third round tie with Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego.
Watched by Dame Mary Berry, the King of Clay looked undercooked on grass.
“I need to improve,” Nadal admitted. “It’s important for me to be humble and accept the challenge.”
After his good friend Roberto Bautista became the third men's withdrawal due to a positive Covid test, Nadal revealed he is shutting himself away at home between matches.
“There’s no paranoïa but I am not doing many things,” he said. “Just staying here and in the house, not going out at all anymore.
“It looks like now the COVID is less dangerous in terms of creating very dangerous health problems. At the same time when you open, these kind of things can happen.
“That’s part of this challenging world we are facing the last couple of years.”
