Carlos Alcaraz has tipped British star Oliver Tarvet to ‘go far’ in tennis following their Wimbledon showdown on Centre Court on Tuesday.
Alcaraz, who has landed the last two Wimbledon men’s singles titles, produced a 6-1 6-4 6-4 second-round win over world No.733 Tarvet.
Despite being over 700 places below world No.2 Alcaraz in the ATP rankings, Tarvet put in a strong performance against the Spaniard.
The British underdog remarkably conjured up more break point opportunities (11) than Alcaraz (10) – but was only able to covert two of them.
Tarvet also registered less double faults and Alcaraz was left blown away by the largely unknown Briton, who has now firmly burst onto the scene.
Quizzed in his post-match press conference about what he told Tarvet at the net at the end of their clash and how far he can go in the future, Wimbledon title favourite Alcaraz said: ‘Well, I told him just congratulations for the run, just keep it going, keep working hard.
Alcaraz: I was impressed with his level
‘It seems like he’s a really nice guy and really nice, hard worker. It seems like he loves tennis. He played with such a good passion out there that is really important.
‘How far he can go, I don’t know. As far as I know, he’s in college. Let’s see what he’s going to choose.
‘If he chooses still in college, the level that we can see in college is pretty high. I hear that there’s 26 players right now that have been in college or is in college right now.
‘I think the level is pretty high. Let’s see, if he keep working hard, if he keep practicing hard and playing in professional level, I think he can go far.
‘It doesn’t matter that he was [less than] 700 in the world. I was impressed with his level. I think he played a really good match.’
Tarvet: I think I did a pretty good job
Tarvert, speaking in his own post-match interview, said: ‘It was just really special. It’s not every day that you get to play against maybe the best player in the world.
‘So yeah, it was really important for me going into the match to enjoy it, enjoy the opportunity, because, as I said, it’s not one that comes around too often.
‘I think I did a pretty good job of kind of enjoying the moment and trying to also play some good tennis at the same time.’
Alcaraz: I just loved his game to be honest
Speaking in his on-court interview, Alcaraz added: ‘I have to give big credit to Oliver. It’s his second match on the Tour.
‘I just love his game to be honest. The level he played in the first match on Centre Court, I know it’s really difficult. He showed great tennis.
‘I knew at the start that I had to be really focused and try to play my best tennis. I think today I played great tennis.
‘Really happy about my performance. Big credit to him as well.’
