His way from qualifier to seeded player at the classic Wimbledon lawn within a year is an expression of hard work for tennis pro Oscar Otte.
In the absence of the injured Alexander Zverev, the 28-year-old from Cologne will start the Grand Slam tournament on Monday as the German number one. “It didn’t go too fast for me. I’ve waited for years to be in this situation, so that suits me very well,” said Otte in London before his first-round game against Munich’s Peter Gojowczyk. “It’s exactly where I wanted to be, I’ve worked hard for it.”
A year ago, Otte fought his way into the main draw for the first time in his career at the Wimbledon tournament and was eliminated by the British Andy Murray in the second round. The fact that he is now in position 32 does not change all that much. “But for the first two rounds it’s a bit more comfortable not to come up against a higher seeded player,” said Otte. It won’t be “easy” against Gojowczyk. “He’s a good buddy, a few weeks ago we ate at his house in Munich.”
Most recently, Otte reached the semi-finals at the lawn tournaments in Stuttgart and Halle in Westphalia. Last year he was at the US Open for the first time in the round of 16 of a Grand Slam tournament. After being outside the top 200 in the world rankings in August 2020, he has now climbed to 37th – the highest ranking of his career so far.