Tennis player brutally taunted by Australian Open rival for tie break blunder

Sebastian Ofner seemingly forgot the Australian Open tie break rules and was made to pay.

Ofner celebrated what he thought was victory over Nishesh Basavareddy when he went 7-1 up in a final set tie break during qualifying.

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However, the Austrian embarrassingly had to be reminded that at Grand Slams you must reach 10 points.

Cue the inevitable outcome from there.

American Basavareddy staged a monumental comeback as things quickly unravelled for Ofner.

Basavareddy fought back to take the tie break 13-11 and mocked his rival with a choking gesture.

“I knew there was still some time. In a super [match] tiebreak, you always have a chance, so I kept believing,” Basavareddy told the Australian Open website.

“I saw him tense up a little bit, but the balls were quite old there, so every rally was a war.”

Australian Open tie break rules

Tie breaks happen in tennis when a set reaches 6-6. Usually, it is then first to seven points, but you must be two points ahead.

However, in 2019 the Australian Open became the first Grand Slam to introduce a ‘super match tie-break’.

This meant that a tie-break in the final set would go to 10 points, with players still needing to be two points clear.

All other sets in the match would still be played to seven.

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Speaking in 2018, Australian Open chief Craig Tiely explained the reasoning behind this.

“We went with a 10-point tiebreak at six-all in the final set to ensure fans still get a special finale to these contests, with the longer tiebreak allowing for that one final twist or change of momentum in the contest,” Tiley said.  

“This longer tiebreak can also lessen some of the serving dominance that can prevail in the shorter tiebreak.”

All the Grand Slams would later adopt this rule by 2022.

Australian Open qualifying results

Young British duo Arthur Fery and George Loffhagen are one win away from making their Australian Open debuts after reaching the final round of qualifying.

The pair, neither of whom has appeared at a grand slam outside of Wimbledon, were the only two of the nine British men who entered qualifying to reach the second round, and both had quick wins on Wednesday.

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In women’s qualifying, former US Open champion Sloane Stephens is into the final round after fighting back to beat Australian Olivia Gadecki 3-6 6-3 6-3.

There was disappointment, though, for Britain’s Harriet Dart, who was beaten 6-0 3-6 6-3 by Lanlana Tararudee of Thailand.

When is the Australian Open?

The Australian Open main draw starts on January 18 with reigning champions Jannik Sinner and Madison Keys looking to retain their titles.

This year’s winners will take home just over £2m each with a record £55m prize pot recently announced.