BRITISH amateur Oliver Tarvet said facing Carlos Alcaraz at Wimbledon was the “most special day” of his life, but the world number 733 has no intention of turning professional just yet.
Tarvet defied the vast ranking gap between him and world number two Alcaraz as he won the hearts of the Centre Court crowd with a tenacious display in his 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 second-round defeat on Wednesday.
Playing only his second main draw Grand Slam match, the 21-year-old forced Alcaraz to dig deep before the Spaniard finally prevailed to remain on track for a third successive Wimbledon crown.
Trading blows with the five-time Grand Slam champion was an unforgettable experience for Tarvet.
“It’s not every day that you get to play against maybe the best player in the world,“ he said.
“I did a pretty good job of kind of enjoying the moment and trying to also play some good tennis at the same time.
“I woke up a couple times in the night from the adrenaline. In the car, my heart rate was going quicker than it usually does. Obviously there were nerves.
“I kind of knew that the first set might be difficult because it’s not a stage that I’m used to. I still had break points in three games. I definitely had chances.”
After failing to convert eight break points in the first set, Tarvet managed to break early in the second.
He celebrated by waggling his finger to the crowd, who rose in delight — before Alcaraz immediately spoiled the party by breaking straight back.
Tarvet admitted that kind of ruthless moment from Alcaraz showed the different levels the two players were capable of reaching.
“Credit to him, he plays the big points just incredibly well. That’s the difference. You kind of feel like you’re in the set, you lose it 6-1, it’s tough,“ he said.
“But even though it was not the result that I wanted today, it was definitely the most special day of my life.”
‘Have confidence in yourself’
Tarvet will not collect much of the £99,000 ($134,000) he has earned for coming through three rounds of qualifying and reaching the second round as he is still a US college student in San Diego playing under national association amateur rules.
Despite his gutsy effort against Alcaraz, Tarvet will stick with his plan to finish college before considering joining the ATP Tour.
“No, I mean, nothing has changed based on the last 10 days. I still want to go back to the University of San Diego,“ he said.
“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’s definitely some things that I want to achieve before I go full-time.”
Asked what he had learned from his fairytale run, Tarvet said: “Most about myself is just how powerful the mind is.
“I feel statistically or on paper, I wasn’t supposed to win some of the matches that I won, but I backed myself against those guys.
“I just realised there’s a lot of power in kind of having that confidence in yourself.”
Alcaraz, on a 20-match winning streak after his title successes in Rome, at the French Open and at Queen’s Club, was full of praise for Tarvet.
“I told him just congratulations for the run, keep it going, keep working hard,“ he said.
“It seems like he’s a really nice guy and a really nice, hard worker. It seems like he loves tennis. He played with such a good passion out there, that is really important.
“If he keeps practising hard and playing in a professional level, I think he can go far.”
