Oscar Otte after Opelka's victory: "Stay focused when he thunders his serves into me in an unreturnable manner"
Oscar Otte (ATP No. 62) was rightly happy after beating Reilly Opelka at the ATP tournament in Munich.
by SID / tennisnet
last edit: Apr 28, 2022, 09:10 pm
"This is definitely my greatest success so far. I'm mega happy, a lot is going right at the moment," said Otte at the press conference after his feat against the 2.11 m giant from Michigan. The right-hander didn't waste any thought on the final or even the title: "It's no longer a coincidence. I really only look from match to match and not at the draw."
Otte, who confidently threw the Serbian Marko Top out of the competition in his opening match, surprised Opelka with his courageous game in the first round. In the tie-break, the Rhinelander finally laid the foundation for his great success. In the second round, Opelka couldn't turn the ball and had to congratulate Otte after 89 minutes and the first match point.
"I didn't really have a plan, I just wanted to stay focused when he hammered his serves in disgustingly or thundered them in an unreturnable way. I did that and that was the key to victory," Otte described his successful match plan.
Otte meanwhile second best German
Opelka, who is 45 places ahead of Otte in 17th place in the world rankings, only celebrated his second title win of the current year in Houston at the beginning of the month and was one of the closest circle of title contenders in Munich.
Otte himself is currently riding the wave of success: after great Challenger performances and the round of 16 at the US Open 2021, he played them in the top 100 for the first time at the beginning of this season. He is currently 62nd in the ATP ranking, he has never been that high before. After Alexander Zverev, Otte is now number 2 in Germany.