British qualifier Oliver Tarvet races to victory on Wimbledon debut
The 21-year-old San Diego University student is ranked down at 733 but he took full advantage of a wild card into qualifying by winning three matches to earn his place at the All England Club.
And he looked right at home on the lawns of SW19, producing an assured performance to claim a 6-4 6-4 6-4 win over fellow qualifier Leandro Riedi from Switzerland.
The win is very likely to mean a crack at Alcaraz in the second round – but most of his prize money, which is now a guaranteed £99,000, is set to go unclaimed.
Tarvet is planning to go back to university in the United States for his final year, and the rules of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which runs college sports, requires players to stay amateur.
Tarvet can claim 10,000 US dollars (approximately £7,300) as well as the expenses he has incurred during the tournament – he joked he would fly his coach over first class to try to ensure he would not have to forfeit too much of the money.
There was no mistaking the joy Tarvet felt at his achievement, though. The St Albans player punched the air with a wide smile plastered on his face after serving out the victory.
Speaking on the BBC, Tarvet said: 'There's a lot of emotions, just really overjoyed. All the hard work I put in the last few years has clearly paid off.
'It's my first tour-level event, to come out here, come through qualifying, win a first-round match, have a chance to play maybe Carlos on Wednesday, it's just a dream come true.'
On the prize money issue, he said: 'I've got to find more and more on expenses by the day. We'll see. I'm not here for the money, I'm here for the crowd and the experience and just to stamp my mark. I think I've done a pretty good job so far.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
21 minutes ago
- The Independent
Defending champion Barbora Krejcikova survives scare in Wimbledon opener
The defending champion losing in the first round of Wimbledon is vanishingly rare. Until Marketa Vondrousova crumbled in her opener last year, earning an unwanted place in the history books, it hadn't been done – on the women's side – since Steffi Graf had a campaign to forget in 1994. But a day after Carlos Alcaraz required four-and-a-half hours and five sets to see off Italian journeyman Fabio Fognini, the 'potential upset' alarm bells rang once more as women's defending champion Barbora Krejcikova found herself wilting in the south London heat against an inspired Alexandra Eala. Having already made history and broken records for the Philippines, Eala, on her debut at Wimbledon, fancied writing another chapter, before ultimately succumbing 6-3, 2-6, 1-6. Tennis crowds – and Wimbledon in particular – love a plucky underdog. The irony here is that 56th-ranked Eala wasn't really an underdog, having shot up the rankings and proven herself equal to the big stage. The 20-year-old is no stranger to a giant-killing: she beat three top-10 players en route to a maiden WTA 1000 semi-final, in Miami earlier this year, including that instantly memorable, superb victory over Iga Swiatek. In fact, Wimbledon's win predictor gave her a narrow edge over Krejcikova. What should have been a huge gulf between an exciting youngster and an established player, the defending champion, was instead a much more level battlefield. Krejcikova has played just six matches this year after a back injury derailed the early part of her season, and no sooner was she back, reaching the quarter-finals at Eastbourne, than a thigh injury forced her to pull out. She came into Wimbledon with a huge question mark hanging over her. Seeing Eala's name in the draw on Friday was probably not what she was after. It was Krejcikova who struck first in an error-strewn first set, sealing a break with an inch-perfect lob over the youngster's head that just kissed the baseline. But it was Eala, on her Wimbledon debut, who ultimately pulled ahead, scrapping back each time she fell down a break under the blazing sunshine on Centre Court. The arena, the occasion: neither seemed to faze her as she took advantage of poor serving from the defending champion, who hit five double faults in the opening set and struggled to control her forehand. At 3-2 Krejcikova followed an ace with a double fault and as her game broke down, Eala upped the intensity, firing down two winners to break, and pull away with the first set. Krejcikova earned an immediate chance to break back, but a succession of errors saw it slip away. Centre Court didn't seem to mind the scrappiness of the encounter, cheering on Eala as she earned a set point on Krejcikova's serve, with the Czech seventh seed eventually finding her first serve to cling onto the hold. But the volume kicks up another notch as Eala sent a forehand fizzing cross-court for set point on her own serve, and sealed it with a rare ace. It looked like the Filipino might run away with a stunning upset, but Krejcikova – a largely muted presence on court – looked undaunted. She wrestled back momentum and quietened the crowd with a hold to love to start the second set, and having rediscovered both her serve and her forehand, the second set was one-way traffic. She broke to 15 and came back from 15-40 down to hold, securing a double break with a winner down the line. Suddenly painting the lines and covering every inch of the court, the Czech was in the ascendancy. Things went haywire as Eala, swinging with greater freedom, broke as Krejcikova served for the set, but the youngster continued to leak errors and a shot blasted wide handed over the set. The stakes heightened in the one-set shootout, both players cut more animated figures, willing themselves onto the finish line. Krejcikova roared with relief as she held after a difficult first service game, and that set the tone. Eala skewed a sitter of a volley wide to hand over the crucial break for 2-0, and Krejcikova began to move through the gears, forcing yet more errors from her young opponent. Ultimately experience and guile – this is Krejcikova's ninth Wimbledon – triumphed over youthful enthusiasm. Eala never lost her belief, with nearly every game going to deuce, but couldn't find a way through the Czech's superior hitting. A backhand winner down the line and an accompany roar sealed the victory for the defending champion – and staved off an unwanted footnote in history. Early on Court 2 – the 'graveyard of champions' – Jessica Pegula set the tone for a day of upsets, as the third seed lost to a sublime Elisabeth Cocciaretto 6-2, 6-3 in just 58 minutes. The American won the warm-up tournament in Bad Homberg last week, defeating Iga Swiatek for a maiden grass-court title, and may have had something of a hangover from playing so close to the start of Wimbledon. Her first-round exit continues an indifferent record in SW19, having only made the second week once in six attempts, when she reached the quarter-finals in 2023. Fifth seed Zheng Qinwen suffered a similar fate later on Court 3, falling in straight sets to Olympic mixed doubles champion Katerina Siniakova, marking her third first-round exit in a row at Wimbledon.
Daily Mail
28 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Wimbledon star who had his career funded by Novak Djokovic is forced to retire from first-round match after collapsing in agony
A Wimbledon star who has had his career funded by Novak Djokovic has been forced to retire in his first round match after collapsing. The Championships continues in soaring temperatures on day two, with a number of players in first round action with the sweltering heat proving difficult to play through in some cases. While the likes of Carlos Alvaraz and Emma Raducanu were in action on day one, day two would play host to the likes of Coco Gauff, while Djokovic himself was pencilled in to feature on Centre Court on Tuesday. Elsewhere, though, at the All England club, some of the lesser-known names were doing their best to compete for important prize money and progress in the tournament. That included down on Court Eight, which played host to Hamad Medjedovic and Sebastian Ofner in their first round match in the men's singles. Things were going well up until the end of the first set, which featured a hard-fought tiebreak with Serb Medjedovic, 21, 8-7 up. Then, though, things went south. Medjedovic slipped at the back of the court when he had set point, trying to change direction with his legs ending up heading opposite ways. He let out a cry of pain, with the umpire rushing to check up on him. A physio also entered the court as he was shaded from the sun by a ball girl. Though clearly in some discomfort, the star limped back to his chair after a lengthy delay. On the very next point, though, he slipped again as his left ankle buckled. He lost the set and departed the court for a medial time-out. After a 14 minute break, though, he fought on. It didn't take long until the game was done, however, with Medjedovic 3-1 down in the second set and deciding to call it a day, sacrificing his spot in the competition. Now world No 73, Medjedovic had his early career funded by Djokovic, as the 24-time grand slam champion paid for expenses for his countryman. Djokovic would help out with travel, coaching and other expenses, helping Medjedovic to rise through the ranks and ultimately win the Next Gen ATP finals and end up on the circuit. The duo have also played together in the Davis Cup. Now, though, Djokovic's prodigy is out, with it unsure how serious his injury is. He has never made it through the first round at Wimbledon before.
BBC News
30 minutes ago
- BBC News
Arfield convinced Falkirk 'will shock people' in Premiership
Scott Arfield says there is "absolutely no doubt" Falkirk will "surprise a few people" on their top-flight 36-year-old midfielder returned to Falkirk in February, 15 years after leaving, and played a key role in the club's promotion."It is exciting times for everybody connected to the football club to see this team back in the top division," the former Rangers player told BBC Scotland."To see the enthusiasm and positivity through their eyes, you relive it again. Some of [the fans] have probably never seen the club in this division, they're that young, it's going to be amazing for them to see it."You're excited for them to give them that back, and obviously as a professional player coming into the twilight years, you try and relive it again and enjoy it as much as you can."There's absolutely no doubt we'll surprise a few people, but we need to have one eye on the calibre of player and the teams we're playing against this year."
