Clare Balding was left apologising during a live BBC interview after Jannik Sinner abruptly ended a conversation about football following his Wimbledon quarter-final victory.
The world No 1 had just booked his place in the semi-finals with a convincing straight-sets win over Jan-Lennard Struff when he joined Balding courtside to discuss his latest success.
Much of the interview focused on Sinner's admiration for fellow Italian Flavio Cobolli, who is preparing to face British wildcard Arthur Fery for a place in the last four.
Balding began by asking whether Sinner would be watching Novak Djokovic's quarter-final later in the evening.
"You are genuinely watching every match, aren't you? So presumably, you're going to watch Djokovic against Auger-Aliassime?" she asked.
Sinner replied: "I like to watch. I am a big tennis fan and also part-time tennis player!
"But no, I think it's nice. I like to watch. Also, because here, you switch on the TV, it's only about Wimbledon."
Balding then suggested football was the only real rival for attention during the Championships.
Clare Balding was left apologising during a live BBC interview after Jannik Sinner abruptly ended a conversation about football following his Wimbledon quarter-final victory
|BBC
"You're right. You're absolutely right. Unless it's about football. That's big too," she said.
Sinner immediately cut in with a smile before saying: "Don't talk about football, thank you."
The comment prompted Balding to apologise before quickly steering the interview back towards tennis.
Attention then turned to Cobolli's upcoming clash with Fery, with Balding admitting the BBC team would naturally be supporting the British hopeful.
LATEST SPORTS NEWS:
Five things to know about Wimbledon | GB NEWS"I love Flavio as well and I love watching him, but he is playing Arthur Fery," she said.
"On the BBC, we're quite behind our Arthur."
Sinner laughed before replying: "Yeah, and?"
He then praised Fery's remarkable run through the draw.
"We know that, we accept it. But he had an amazing win, huh? We were watching yesterday, it was nice."
Despite acknowledging the Centre Court crowd would be firmly behind the British wildcard, Sinner made no secret of where his own loyalties lie.
"I know him quite well, of course, being Italian," he said of Cobolli.
"He is a great character. I think also people love him because he is very, very authentic, and that's just how he is, also back in the locker rooms."
Jannik Sinner is the hot favourite to retain his Wimbledon crown | REUTERSSinner's reluctance to discuss football comes with Italy absent from this summer's World Cup, meaning the reigning Davis Cup champions are not involved in the tournament.
It is not the first awkward on-air exchange Balding has experienced during this year's Wimbledon coverage.
Earlier in the Championships, she inadvertently reminded Tim Henman of one of the biggest disappointments of his career while discussing Arthur Fery's fairytale run.
Balding pointed out that Fery's birthday falls on the day of this year's men's final before noting that Goran Ivanisevic had become Wimbledon's only wildcard men's champion in 2001.
The mention immediately prompted Henman to cut in.
"This is a much better story, let's not go back to 2001!" he said, referring to his semi-final defeat to Ivanisevic that year.
Recognising the sensitivity of the subject, Balding quickly replied: "OK, let's just keep looking forward, you're right."