When Matthew Knies stepped in front of the media on Tuesday, he was immediately pressed about his tennis skills.
Earlier in Maple Leafs' camp, the 21-year-old said he has played Auston Matthews in tennis several times, and that in each of those matches, Knies has beaten the Toronto captain.
"Me and him play tennis here and there," Knies said when asked last week if he ever bumps into Matthews during the offseason given their Arizona roots. "I kind of smoke him a little bit. It's always fun to be around him."
Knies added that he was into tennis when he was younger and admits he knows how to play the game.
"When I got here, he (Matthews) always invited me over, and again, I've been smoking him since."
After the forward spoke with the media, he went straight to Matthews in the Maple Leafs' gym and told the captain what he said to the press. So, when the 27-year-old stepped in front of the cameras a few minutes later, he set the record straight.
"He's never beat me in tennis. Never," Matthews said with a grin. "He literally walked into the gym and told me that he said that. I said, 'I can't believe you'd lie to the media like that.' It's crazy."
Matthews followed up by explaining Knies' tennis game.
"He's good. We've been playing the last couple of weeks, and yeah, he just straight up lied to you guys. I don't know what else to say."
On Tuesday, there was another turn to this tennis saga. Knies was asked why he lied to the media, to which he said, he's not sure he lied at all.
"I don't know if it's a lie. Me and Tone (Matthews) talked it over. I think we're going to get the blueprint crew out in Muskoka, or sometime soon, and we'll let the video judge it."
What Knies means when he says in Muskoka is the Maple Leafs' annual retreat to Gravenhurst before the regular season gets underway. Over the past few years, Toronto has gone up there to bond with each other and practice, which gets the community together.
