Out in Kitzbühel

Ofner tense: “Of course I’m worried”

Sebastian Ofner was concerned after his early exit.(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

Sebastian Ofner's dress rehearsal for the Olympics at his home tournament in Kitzbühel was a failure, although he was playing with painkillers due to his ailing heels and was not in full possession of his strength. The number 5 seed from Styria lost the Austrian duel with the 21-year-old Lukas Neumayer from Salzburg 4:6, 6:4, 6:7(3) after 2:14 hours on Tuesday.

For Neumayer, Günter Bresnik's protégé, it was his first win on the tour in his second ATP Tour appearance (after Kitz 2021). "I didn't even know on Friday that I was going to play, then Alex (Antonitsch, ed.) called and said that I'd get a wild card. I knew it would be against Ofi in front of a full house, that was definitely my best experience so far," said a delighted Neumayer. It was only the cancellation of top star Casper Ruud that gave him the "free ticket" for Kitz.

Lukas Neumayer(Bild: Christof Birbaumer)

"I'm extremely happy. The Ofi gave me a bit of a gift in the tie-break and I won the first two points quite luckily, but I was looking from point to point."

The fact that he is in the Kitzbühel round of 16 at 21 is an important milestone for him. "I know that I can win against opponents like this and play at this level. I try to remain patient until I get even higher. I train as hard as I can every day and this win feels extremely good."

Injury flares up again
Neumayer doesn't want to have noticed that there was an Austrian number one with major physical problems on the other side. But Ofner played with painkillers from the start, as he has done so often in the past. "I don't know if it would have been possible at all without it," admitted Ofner, for whom the performance was no fun at all. "It was just work. Of course I'm worried, because if something should happen again, then I know how difficult and tough it is," he said, referring to the recurrence of the injury.

Nevertheless, the 28-year-old protégé of Wolfgang Thiem and touring coach Stefan Rettl almost managed to turn things around. "I already have a certain level that I can win certain matches even when it's like this. But it's relatively tough on my head because I've had problems with it for a long time and the fact that it's so acute again now is not so funny, mentally too, it makes it less fun to be on the court."