Perth’s Tristan Schoolkate has thrived on a chaotic day in unprecedented heat at Wimbledon qualifying to bring the curtain down on a British star’s career.
The win gives Schoolkate the chance to join seven countrymen in the men’s singles main draw when he plays on Thursday.
Schoolkate’s win over Dan Evans means the 36-year-old was not able to land his dream of one final singles outing at the All England Club next week.
Schoolkate wouldn’t be denied, either by the partisan home crowd, soaring temperatures in the mid-thirties or an hour-long suspension caused by a power problem to the automated line-calling system as he overpowered Evans 7-5 6-0, leaving the Briton to concede “he was just too good”.
The 25-year-old West Australian, now just a win away from a Wimbledon main-draw debut, recognised whose day it was as he applauded Evans off court and then offered the British talent, who’ll still be at Wimbledon in the men’s doubles, a glowing tribute.
“Dan’s a phenomenal player. I wish him all the best after his career. I looked up to guys like him for a long time,” said Schoolkate, who reeled off the last eight games in a row.
“So much of tennis nowadays is ‘same old, same old’, but watching him, the way he jinks it around, his slice is amazing, and a great competitor. So many young kids can learn a lot from Dan.
“I know the crowd were supporting him, but it’s nice to hear some claps my way too and I played a phenomenal second set after that heat delay, so happy with that.”
Schoolkate had just left the court for a bathroom break after taking the first set and by the time he returned, the line-calling system had gone down, with no-one quite clear if the searing heat might have been responsible on a day when all the ball kids were kept at home because of the weather conditions.
“It’s not usually this hot in London, so it was unexpected,” admitted Schoolkate, the world No.147. “It was a bit of a strange break. I knew that my body might pull up a little better than his, but just glad I came out of the gates pretty hot when we resumed.”
Schoolkate will next face Colombian Nicolas Mejia, ranked 21 places below him, in a best-of-five-set match for one of the coveted 16 extra men’s places in the main draw. The match is scheduled for 6 pm WST tonight.
Unfortunately there will be no Storm Hunter joining Schoolkate in the final round of qualifying after Hunter put up a fierce battle from 5-2 down in the final set before losing 5-7 6-1 7-5 to another Russian, Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
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