Ernests Gulbis sunk his teeth into a Wimbledon press conference when he happily answered questions on vampires, not realising that he was being quizzed for his opinions on umpires.

The colourful Latvian 12th seed, who is never far from controversy having insisted at the French Open that women should stay at home and raise children rather than play tennis, misunderstood a question seeking his views on John McEnroe’s belief that umpires should be abolished.

“Get rid of vampires?,” he said. “I completely agree.”

Once the confusion was cleared up, Gulbis expanded on his belief that the sport is, nonetheless, still plagued by bloodsuckers.

“My God. Umpires? I thought something else. I thought vampires in the way the people who are surrounding and sucking the energy out of players. That’s what I meant,” he said.

Gulbis, who made the second round with a straight sets win over Estonia’s Jurgen Zopp, then hit top gear.

“The media, are they the vampires?” he was asked.

“Always trying to get a quote,” Gulbis said.

“I’m not going to give you a quote. Next question.”