Tennis ace Neumayer

Debut on the “holy grass” instead of a league semi-final

Tennis ace Lukas Neumayer makes his debut at Wimbledon.(Bild: GEPA pictures/ Mario Buehner-Weinrauch)

Lukas Neumayer is fulfilling a big dream this year: the tennis ace will serve at Wimbledon for the first time and make his debut on grass. In London, the 21-year-old can look forward to big prize money. However, he will have to do without the Bundesliga semi-final with the STC. 

Lukas Neumayer celebrated a narrow 4:6, 7:6 and 7:6 opening victory against the Ukrainian Marchenko on Tuesday at the Challenger in Bratislava (Slovakia). Today, the felt ball hunter will face the tournament's number one, Argentinian Cachin, in the round of 16. "My form is not bad, anything is possible," said the man from Radstadt.

After the tournament in the Slovakian capital, the 21-year-old will head to London next week. Neumayer will then compete in the Wimbledon qualifiers for the first time. "I've never played on grass in my whole life, so it will be a premiere. Hopefully I can get used to it after a few training sessions and then be competitive in the qualifiers," says the Pongau native.

"They'll get to the final without me"
After his Grand Slam debut in Paris, Wimbledon will be Neumayer's second appearance on the big tennis stage. "Serving on the sacred grass is really cool. And it definitely pays off financially," he says, referring to the high prize money. Even if you fail in qualifying round one, you still get over 15,000 euros.

Due to his trip to London, however, the 21-year-old will miss the Bundesliga semi-finals at home - the STC will have to compete in Schwaz without him. "They will reach the final without me," Neumayer is convinced.