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Sebastian Ofner is surely the most unexpected player in the third round men's draw matches at Wimbledon. The 21-year-old Austrian will face Alexander Zverev in a few hours trying to reach the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career.
"First time" are two words that get repeated a lot when you speak these days about Ofner, a World No. 217 who started from the qualifying draw where he beat Kimmer Coppejans 10-8 in the third set at first round level, then Jay Clarke in five after being down two sets to love in the last round of qualies.
In the main draw he got past Thomaz Bellucci and Jack Sock, which were his first two wins in a main draw tour-level event as he had never played at a such important stage before this tournament. He also had never played on grass, where he trained for the first time only for a few hours before playing his first match in Roehampton last week.
Ofner wasn't a high level junior player as he studied full time at School until 19 age. Coached by Dominic Thiem’s father, Wolfgang Thiem, his this year's Wimbledon prize money ($116,000) is more than double what he has earned his entire career ($46,193).
'Sure now I’m making lots of points and it will help me to play maybe ATP qualifying and maybe be seeded in Challengers. Sure the money is a lot, more than double I’ve earned till know in my whole career. I’ll save it and looking forward', said Ofner, who was also a big Roger Federer's fan growing up.
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