Sebastian Offner should have heeded the wise words of Yogi Berra and Lenny Kravitz during Wednesday’s Australian Open qualifying.
“It’s not over until it’s over.”
The 29-year-old Austrian faced Nishesh Basavareddy in the second qualifying round, aiming to qualify for the main draw of the tournament.
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After splitting the first two sets of the best-of-three match, Offner took a commanding 6-1 lead in the third set tiebreaker. Thinking it was some kind of tiebreaker on the ATP Tour, he got his seventh point and celebrated as if the match was over. However, that was not the case, and the referee reminded Offner that Grand Slam qualifying would be played with a 10-point difference.
The match then devolved into a collapse for Offner, who lost 12 of his next 16 points, with the 20-year-old American ultimately clinching the match with a “choke” gesture to Tyrese Haliburton/Reggie Miller after the final point.
Basavalady won the match 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (11) and will now face George Lofhagen (Great Britain) in the final round of qualifying.
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Offner’s response to the hiccup was simply posted on her Instagram Story: “Things like this happen.”
