Tim van Rijthoven rumbles on and crowns Wimbledon wildcard with a place in the second round | Tennis

By Rik Spekenbrink

With the win over Delbonis, Van Rijthoven’s dream weeks get a nice sequel. Out of nowhere, the 25-year-old Dutchman won the ATP tournament in Rosmalen, after which he also received a wild card for Wimbledon. So he made short work of Delbonis there.

It was a bit of a switch for Van Rijthoven. He played his last match on the sold-out center court of Rosmalen. Thousands of compatriots created a euphoric and opportunistic atmosphere at the final, in which the Brabander defeated number 1 in the world Daniil Medvedev and miraculously won his first ATP title.

In comparison, court 11 at Wimbledon is a back job. There is room for exactly two rows of audience. And there is mainly noise, a lot of noise. Tennis fans are chatting along the court with their drinks and cheers are blowing from all sides from other courts. Van Rijthoven’s coach Igor Sijsling and his girlfriend Maartje, who had traveled to Wimbledon on the urgent advice of her employer, were so close to the track that they had to swerve for a waiving service from Van Rijthoven. Miriam Oremans also found a spot, right on the track, just like the other Dutch people with a ticket for the opening day. During the rally, for example, occasionally ‘Oh, I saw that ball’.

But Van Rijthoven probably thought it was all fine. His debut at Wimbledon, and even in the main draw of a grand slam, was impressive enough. With a fresh grass title in his pocket and an outspoken clay specialist as first opponent – the Argentinian Delbonis – he was actually the favourite. Stand on it.

But Van Rijthoven just continued the line-Rosmalen. He hardly seemed to suffer from nerves, who knows helped by his age (25), he has been on tour for a while. And he is brimming with confidence, he said over the weekend.

Of course, the question was whether his form would survive the two weeks without competitions. The first set was still a bit awkward, especially on the backhand Van Rijthoven made some careless mistakes. But he made good on the break arrears, and was mentally strong in the tiebreak. After missing two set points himself, the Argentinian came to set point, but the Dutchman brushed that away with a hard streak from a backhand. And then strike at his third chance.

With that, the resistance of Delbonis, who had not made it through the first round of Wimbledon in six previous attempts, was also immediately broken. With 7-6, 6-1, 6-2, Van Rijthoven signed for an almost businesslike victory. That’s how he experienced it. No primal scream or other outburst, but just a fist and a short applause to the audience. Like he hasn’t done anything else for years. After an hour and 45 minutes, including fifteen aces and 33 winners, Van Rijthoven packed his bag again. Ninety thousand euros richer, moreover, about the same prize money as after a whole week of Libéma Open. He has not yet fallen from that Rosmalense pink cloud.

Van Rijthoven will face Spaniard Carlos Taberner or American Reilly Opelka in the next round. That party is now underway. Unfortunately for Van Rijthoven, there are no points for the world ranking at Wimbledon. That is because the tournament organization does not allow Russians and Belarussians to participate.