Wimbledon: Oscar Otte will take on Andy Murray on Centre Court for a place in the third round
Oscar Otte is up next for Britain's Andy Murray on Centre Court with the German ready to play one of the icons of the sport, saying: "When he gets in control of his body, I think everybody knows he can still beat the top guys and come far in tournaments"
Wednesday 30 June 2021 23:27, UK
Germany's Oscar Otte says he will try to end "huge icon" Andy Murray's Wimbledon comeback on Centre Court on Wednesday evening.
Otte is ranked down at 151 in the world, but he held his nerve to win only the second deciding tie-break in All England Club history, coming through 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 13-12 (7-2) in his first-round clash with fellow qualifier Arthur Rinderknech.
The match was suspended on Monday night at 9-9 in the fifth set and the pair waited most of Tuesday before the 27-year-old got the job done to set up a dream occasion against the two-time Wimbledon champion.
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Otte, from Cologne, led by two sets to love against Alexander Zverev in the first round of the French Open before losing in five, but he believes that experience can help him against Murray.
"He's just a huge icon in the sport. It will be a pretty big match. The crowd probably won't be on my side, but that's OK for me, of course. I have my coach here, my girlfriend, I think it can be enough, but we will see," he said.
"Everybody knows he's one of the best tennis players ever and, when he gets in control of his body, I think everybody knows he can still beat the top guys and come far in tournaments."
The key for Murray will be how well he has recovered physically from the drama of his four-set win over Nikoloz Basilashvili.
It was a positive sign that the Scot was on the practice schedule on Tuesday having recalled what happened the last time he reached the second round of a Grand Slam at the US Open last summer with a five-set victory over Yoshihito Nishioka.
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He said: "I actually did pretty well in the first round against Nishioka and felt fine that evening, and then I woke up the next day and could barely walk. My groin was really painful and I didn't recover from that match at all."
Murray is looking to reach the third round of a Slam for the first time since limping through to the Wimbledon quarter-finals four years ago.
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