LONDON: Oliver Tarvet says he still has unfinished business on the college circuit before turning professional after putting Carlos Alcaraz through his paces in the second round at Wimbledon.
Tarvet, who is currently ranked outside the top 700, defied the odds by coming through three rounds of qualifying as a wildcard before winning his opening main draw match on Monday. His reward was a Centre Court showdown with two-time defending champion Alcaraz, who prevailed 6-1, 6-4, 6-4. Incredibly, the match was the first time the Brit has played a top 100 player in a Tour-level match.
“Something I learned today was just how difficult mentally it is. I’ve played against some really good players before, but not quite the level of Alcaraz,” Tarvet said afterwards.
“I feel like as soon as I had 95% focus, I lost a game. You saw that today when I made a big emotional push to break him twice, and then I got broken to love straight back. It was because I gave everything, kind of emptied the tank for that game to break him. Then you have to hold. It’s just really, really difficult to keep that 100% focus and 100% intensity.”
The reference to mentality is something that was mentioned by another young player at Wimbledon on Wednesday. Joao Fonseca, who is three years younger than the Brit, said his biggest improvement that enabled him to breakthrough on the Tour has been the mental side of his game.
As to what is next for Tarvet, he wants to return to college tennis. He currently plays and studies at the University of San Diego. Before facing Alcaraz, he had won 31 consecutive completed singles matches in college or the pro Tour since November.
“Nothing has changed based on the last 10 days. I still want to go back to the University of San Diego,” he stated.
“The amount of dedication and passion and devotion that the coaches, the head coach, Ryan Keckley, the assistant coach, Alex Funkhouser, who has been with me this whole journey, and the second assistant, Carlos Bracho. Not just them, my teammates and everybody working behind the scenes have been incredible.
“I have a lot of personal goals that I still haven’t achieved as a team at USD. As much as I have professional goals, college has been such a big part of my career, part of my life. There are some things that I want to achieve before I go full-time.”
When he does go full-time on the Tour in the coming years, how much of a threat could he become?
“If he keeps working hard, if he keeps practicing hard and playing at a professional level, I think he can go far,” world No.2 Alcaraz said after playing him.
Due to being in the college system, Tarvet is only allowed to earn up to £10,000 in profit per year as an athlete.
