Sebastian Ofner will start the 2023 Wimbledon tournament against Jiri Lehecka on Tuesday. The Styrian is very relaxed.
by Jens Huiber
last edited: 07/01/2023, 07:08 p.m
© GEPA Pictures
Sebastian Ofner opens at Wimbledon against Jiri Lehecka
Sebastian Ofner is calm himself anyway. That doesn’t change when he looks back on the best weeks of his career. Who flushed him close to the top 60 of the ATP charts and into the main draw at Wimbledon 2023. Moment! That’s not entirely true. After all, Ofner should have qualified after the final defeat in Ilkley. The Styrian described what happened after that in his press conference before the start of the third major of the year.
“It was completely surprising,” says Ofner. “I went straight to the hotel after the final, having already booked the train to London. And also the taxi from the hotel to the train. Half an hour later the tournament director in Ilkley got the message that I had the wildcard. Jamie Baker from the organizing committee in Wimbledon then confirmed this for ten minutes.”
“I was already completely prepared for the qualification, the wildcard was a huge relief.” Especially since, unlike his first run in Wimbledon, he can now train for a week in peace and absorb all the impressions.
Ofner trains with Tiafoe
In the first round, Sebastian Ofner caught Jiri Lehecka, against whom he played last year at the Challenger in Salzburg. The match-up could still work quite well on grass. “It’s going to depend a lot on serve and return. And I’ll also try to step on the gas from behind.” Of course, his opponent could do that too – who came up with the typical Czech idea: flat, fast balls.
Ofner has trained with numerous players in the last few days, such as Frances Tiafoe, Marc-Andrea Huesler, Arthur Fils and Alexander Vukic. From now on, only one training session per day is possible – Ofner will probably use that to meet Dominic Stricker on Sunday.
It starts for the 26-year-old like Dennis Novak (against Milos Raonic) and Dominic Thiem (against Stefanos Tsitsipas) on Tuesday. Austrian tennis fans can look forward to a relieved and exhilarated Sebastian Ofner.
Here is the individual tableau in Wimbledon
2023-07-01 18:00:00
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