Oliver Tarvet saw off Leandro Riedi, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in two hours and 19 minutes on the opening day of Wimbledon, but the 21-year-old Brit won’t be able to accept the prize money
Oliver Tarvet said it was a “dream come true” to win his first ever match at Wimbledon, but his victory came with an unusual caveat.
The 21-year-old Brit, who is ranked No.733 in the world, saw off his opponent, Leandro Riedi, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in two hours and 19 minutes on the opening day of Wimbledon.
He had to come through three rounds of qualifying to earn his place at the All England Lawn Tennis Club and had never before played an ATP Tour-level event.
But he drew a decent crowd in the sweltering heat on court four and rose to the occasion, knocking out his Swiss opponent, who is ranked 506th in the world but was 117th as recently as August last year and is a previous runner-up at Surbiton.
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Tarvet could now get an even more high-profile tie, with his win possibly granting him a second-round match against defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, who is facing veteran Fabio Fognini on Centre Court on Monday afternoon.
“There’s a lot of emotions,” Tarvet said. “I’m just really overjoyed to be in this situation. All the hard work I’ve put in over the last few years has clearly paid off. I was just taking it match by match to see what I could do.
“This is my first tour level event – to come through qualifying and then win a first round at Wimbledon and maybe have the chance to play Carlos on Wednesday is truly incredible. It’s a dream come true for me to play at Wimbledon and it’s really special.”
Tarvet can’t enjoy the financial rewards that come with his success, however. The youngster is a University of San Diego student and has developed his game in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) system. That comes with strings attached. Under NCAA rules, players are restricted in how much they can claim from professional tournaments.
Tarvet revealed before the tournament that he is only allowed to take home $10,000 (£7,290) in profit every year, as well as any expenses incurred during the events. That means he will likely have to forfeit the £99,000 in prize money he has earned for reaching the second round.
“There’s been complaints about it but I don’t want to speak too much about it, I don’t want to overstep anything,” he said before the match. “In my opinion, I’ve worked hard to get this money and I don’t really feel like it’s undeserved, the money that I’ve got. So I think it would be good to see a change in the rules.”
Tarvet is the first male British qualifier for Wimbledon since Alexander Ward in 2017. He beat Terence Atmane in round one before prevailing 6-3 6-2 against Canada’s Alexis Galarneau and defeating 29th seed Alexander Blockx of Belgium 6-3 3-6 6-2 6-1 to progress to the main draw.
