Anderson meets his hero

London - Kevin Anderson has hardly batted an eyelid as he made tennis history for South Africa at Wimbledon, but the world number 18 admitted he couldn't stop sweating after a surprise encounter with comedian Ricky Gervais.

Anderson became the first South African man since Wayne Ferreira in 2000 to reach the Wimbledon fourth round after beating Italian 16th seed Fabio Fognini on Friday.

And just hours after that famous victory, the towering 28-year-old's memorable day got even better when he bumped into Gervais, the British comic who famously created hugely successful television comedies 'The Office' and 'Extras'.

Meeting his hero for the first time was overwhelming for Anderson and he said: "I just bumped into Ricky Gervais upstairs. Just literally went and introduced myself. It was great.

"I watch some of his stand-up shows and some of his gigs. I've been a huge fan.

"I was a little nervous. My hand started sweating.

"It's just funny, when you're not used to something it's amazing what you get nervous about."