Kyle Edmund jokes with coach Freddie Rosengren over England vs Sweden clash
Hostilities have broken out between Kyle Edmund and his coach ahead of the sole British male survivor's second round at Wimbledon on Thursday.
Happily, that is confined to the looming World Cup quarter-final that sees Edmund's England up against Sweden, the country of Freddie Rosengren, his ebullient cornerman.
The two of them sported national football shirts at practice ahead of Thursday's match against American qualifier Bradley Klahn.
Kyle Edmund (right) jokes with his Swedish coach Freddie Rosengren at practice
With a huge third round against Novak Djokovic set up for Saturday, Rosengren is trying to ensure there is a mix of joking and focus for his player as he carries the flag in the absence of Andy Murray.
'We will be friends for a couple more days and then we'll see,' said Rosengren, who shares coaching duties with Englishman Mark Hilton. 'It's good to joke about the match. But we try to do our work.
'It's always good to have things to relax and to enjoy the ride. You can't speak or think about tennis 24 hours a day. He has to be switched on when he is working and we are talking. But he is a young guy and he deserves to have fun.'
British No 1 Edmund made it through to the second round after he beat Alex Bolt
Rosengren also warned Edmund not to get ahead of himself with Djokovic possibly lying in wait.
'We are here for a good result at Wimbledon. The focus is on that. Of course, he is thinking, 'Ah, it can be Djokovic in the third round, I beat him in Madrid'.
'Every player would think a bit in advance. We have to do our job to keep him on track, to get to that match. There's no sense in focusing on the third round because we still have a guy to beat in the second round.'
The extrovert Rosengren has worked a lot on getting the more naturally reticent Edmund to be more brash. Having coached top Swedes Robin Soderling and Magnus Norman, he is also aware that competing at a home tournament can bring its distractions.
'It's not easy to be at home. I have seen that with my previous players so many times. You know so many people, they want you to stop and talk, they have so many questions. If you don't stop they think, 'OK, now he is cocky'. So it can take two hours to walk a hundred metres. You have to find the balance where you can say, 'I'm fine, how about you?' and then leave.'
Edmund could face Novak Djokovic in what would be a huge third round tie at Wimbledon
Edmund will be strongly favoured to beat Klahn, ranked 168, who is a similar type of left-hander to Alex Bolt, his first-round victim.
'He is pretty much the same guy as yesterday,' said Rosengren. 'Serving the same, playing the same, with small differences. I said to Kyle he's a copy. This is good because we were preparing two days for Bolt.'
Elsewhere on Thursday, No 1 Brit on the women's side of the draw Jo Konta faces former Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova, the pair up against each other as early as the second round as part of the fallout from Serena Williams seeding.
Cibulkova was the player denied a privileged draw when Williams was inserted into the top 32. She would not otherwise have faced a seed like No 22 Konta until at least the third round. Their encounter looks too close to call.
Before thinking about facing Djokovic, Edmund must first overcome Bradley Klahn
In Eastbourne, the Slovak made clear her unhappiness at the situation.
'Yes, of course I am playing against her because I am not seeded, but I have commented on this before,' said Cibulkova.
'It will not change anything so I am not making my mind busy with this. I am playing Konta, so I will try my best tomorrow.'
British No 3 and world No 122 Katie Boulter has a difficult task when she plays the powerful American-raised 18th seed from Japan, Naomi Osaka.