British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

indiana · Tennis legend

Week 26 - The Championships, Wimbledon (grass) - men's qualifying

Madadman · Grand Slam Champion

Excellent stuff from Oli, should jump about 200 places as well.

Priesty · Challenger level

Some promising Olis in the British game biggrin

pauldepstein · Junior player

JonH comes home wrote:
Both winnable, Id say - and loseable also!

This looks like very accurate commentary in retrospect. Neither match was straight sets and 1-1 from a Brit perspective.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Had tears in my eyes when Oli won that match

After the heartbreaker in junior Wimbly, which I still remember so well, this was just amazing

He was so motivated, so focused

His coaching team (two of them, I think, sitting next to Martin Weston) were great - as before

I loved the way they shouted 'stay in your lane' at the end

The crowd were going mad, as he was trying to close it out, and it wasn't easy - Oli must have had adrenalin coming out of his ears

But I thought 'stay in your lane' was a nice way to try and focus him, to keep going through the normal process, and not get distracted

Really super win

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

The Beeb's report on Ollie's match.

And from the Wimbledon site:

Tarvet roared into first Grand Slam by home crowd

World No.719 fulfils boyhood dream by knocking out Alexander Blockx to qualify

When Oliver Tarvet was told by reporters that he is the first British man to qualify for the Wimbledon main draw since Alex Ward in 2017, the world No.719 clenched his fist with a bicep curl; it meant a whole lot.

Tarvet, in his first five-set clash, dominated proceedings 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 to topple No.29 seed Alexander Blockx. The Show Court 1 crowd roared him into his maiden Grand Slam.

"It's a great feeling, qualifying in your first Grand Slam," said Tarvet. "Each win this week kept on surprising me, but I was confident in the work that I've put in at the University of San Diego. My mental game has been excellent, I've done a really good job of staying engaged in every single point. It's come together at the most important time of the year for me."

Born in St Albans, Tarvet headed to Wimbledon each year, imagining himself starring at SW19. "I came here every year from about nine, 10 to watch with my family. I was a pretty good player as a little kid and obviously it was a big dream of mine to come back and play on those courts," he said. "It felt so far away, now it's a reality. I'm just so happy I was able to pull through."

The 21-year-old has won countless awards and accolades during a highly successful college career in San Diego, where he's studying communications.

"The dedication and passion from the coaching set up is off the charts. The tennis side is put on a plate for you to succeed," he added. "I think people underestimate the top level of college tennis. I kind of proved that this week. I was playing in San Diego just three weeks ago. I feel it's such a high level and makes us able to compete on this level. I want to use the crowd to my advantage and put my name out there, making the University of San Diego more known. Whatever opponent, whichever court, it's just a privilege to play The Championships."

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

With qualies now over, why not have a go in the British wins prediction contest ?

britishtennis.activeboard.com/t71981111/how-many-british-main-draw-wins-will-we-get-at-wimbledon-202/

Lambda · ATP level

Excerpts from University of San Diego report

WIMBLEDON, England Two University of San Diego Toreros rising senior Oliver Tarvet and alum August Holmgren ('22) punched their tickets to their first Grand Slams Thursday, the Wimbledon main draw, via three big wins in qualifiers.

"There's a lot of emotions, but the main one is just happiness," said Tarvet. "It's a dream come true, and I'm really happy to be part of it."

Tarvet, the world No. 719 player, becomes the lowest-ranked British international to claim a spot in the main draw since 2017 after beating tennis' 124th, 126th and 210th-ranked players in the qualifying stage this week. Tarvet hails from St. Albans, England, just 23 miles about an hour's drive around London from Wimbledon, England. His final qualifying match Thursday was his first career best-of-five-sets match his first-round match Monday will be his second.

"I train hard at the University of San Diego where I'm at," said Tarvet. "We put in a lot of hard hours and it's clearly paying off. College [tennis] is unbelievable if you find the right coaches my head coach Ryan Keckley and assistant coach Alex Funkhouser who's with me right now, they do an incredible job and it's just so well organized, so well structured. It's difficult not to succeed when you have everything given to you, as long as you show up every day and give it 100-percent, it's really difficult not to improve."

"In my 16 years of college coaching, I have rarely seen the level of discipline and daily work ethic that August and Ollie have demonstrated," said Keckley. "Their dedication is clearly reflected in their outstanding results this week. It comes as no surprise that these two exceptional Toreros have earned the right to compete on the grand stage in their very first Grand Slam appearances. The future is undoubtedly bright for both these players and the Torero program as a whole."

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Hadnt realised USD had August in their ranks as well. Must be there for team honours and NCAA glory next season?!

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

The Universityof San Diego must really be flying high

To get two guys through is amazing

(and a little shout out to the University Virginia, too - Chris Rodesch also came through (from Luxenbourg - love it when the tiny countries do well

) and I think he went to Virginia

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:
The Universityof San Diego must really be flying high

To get two guys through is amazing

(and a little shout out to the University Virginia, too - Chris Rodesch also came through (from Luxenbourg - love it when the tiny countries do well ) and I think he went to Virginia

Holmgren has an atp rank of 195 as well, he will be worth watching for the US Open and lead in events.

Luxembourg- great! I remember Gilles Muller was a good player, have a feeling he may have coached a Brit as well?

9vicman · Futures qualifying

JonH comes home wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
The Universityof San Diego must really be flying high

To get two guys through is amazing

(and a little shout out to the University Virginia, too - Chris Rodesch also came through (from Luxenbourg - love it when the tiny countries do well ) and I think he went to Virginia
Holmgren has an atp rank of 195 as well, he will be worth watching for the US Open and lead in events.

Luxembourg- great! I remember Gilles Muller was a good player, have a feeling he may have coached a Brit as well?

Jamie Delgado coached him.

indiana · Tennis legend

Thank you these folk who have previously recommended Wimbledon Qualifying.

Had a great week, most worthwhile. Now on the train back to Edinburgh before it gets far too hot for me ( hmm, do I factor in heat in my British MD wins thoughts? ).

Currently speeding through Yorkshire with no stops ( nothing much to it I hear anyway. ) so next stop Newcastle.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
Thank you these folk who have previously recommended Wimbledon Qualifying.

Had a great week, most worthwhile. Now on the train back to Edinburgh before it gets far too hot for me ( hmm, do I factor in heat in my British MD wins thoughts? ).

Currently speeding through Yorkshire with no stops ( nothing much to it I hear anyway. ) so next stop Newcastle.

Glad you had a good time - my daughter has just got on a train at Edinburgh left at 3.30 for york - wave as you hurtle by!

goldfish · Futures level

Note to self - do not book up the whole of Wimbledon qualifying week next year so I cant attend! Pleased to hear you had a good time Indy. It really is good value for money and great to watch future stars and old ones hoping to return to form. Thanks to all thos3 who kept us informed with their reviews. Much appreciated.