2023-06-04 19:59:40
Sebastian Ofner had no chance in the round of 16 of the French Open. But he mightn’t stop laughing at a great tournament.
A Stefanos Tsitsipas in top form and more than 13 hours of playing time in the seven games were too big for Sebastian Ofner on Sunday evening to continue the surprising run in Paris from qualifying beyond the round of 16. The Styrian was only able to stand up to the fifth in the world rankings at the beginning, lost 5: 7, 3: 6, 0: 6, but was still able to enjoy the biggest match of his career.
Only once before had Ofner had the opportunity to present himself in such a large stadium – a year ago at the 10,000-seat Court Suzanne Lenglen, the second largest square in Roland Garros. Alexander Zverev was two numbers too big in round one. The scenery seemed to inspire Ofner at the beginning this time. He showed no respect for the two-time Grand Slam finalist and presented with a break. What was previously a dream because of the unequally distributed roles, one now dared to ask: Can the qualifier even continue his sensational run?
Tsitsipas was in a “different league” for Ofner
Ofner played courageously, he managed to get balls that were worth seeing. But the 27-year-old would only have really believed in it if he had won the first sentence. But Tsitsipas, who was there on the most important points, succeeded.
“I don’t expect anything. Tsitsipas is in a completely different league once more,” Ofner said in advance. The Greek was able to confirm this primarily thanks to his serve, where he was untouchable as the game progressed. Not a single unforced error faced ten winners in the second set. Why Tsitsipas has been one of the best in his guild for years and Ofner entered the tournament as number 113 was then clearly expressed in the result. Ofner was still able to enjoy his hard-earned and well-deserved appearance on the big stage. He didn’t let the laughter following – increasingly rare – points worth seeing once morest a big Tsitsipas play be taken away. After 1:48 hours, Tsitsipas’ victory, which was a bit too high, was fixed and Ofner’s great journey in Roland Garros was over.
Ofner takes 180 ATP points and 240,000 euros with him
As expected, there will be a quarter-final hit between Tsitsipas and Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday. Ofner, on the other hand, can look forward to 180 ATP points, which put him around 80th in the world rankings. He also takes 240,000 euros in prize money (gross) with him – not unimportant for a professional like Ofner, who has been injured for a long time in recent years and has been almost exclusively on the hardly lucrative Challenger Tour. Last but not least, Tsitsipas said goodbye to him with praise when he said: “Sebastian challenged me for a while so that I was able to play my best tennis.”
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