Wimbledon: University of San Diego’s British player Tarvet navigates NIL and NCAA rules after win

LONDON (AP) — Oliver Tarvet used to come to Wimbledon as a kid from his hometown about 1 1/2 hours away to watch his favorite sport and dream of a chance to play tennis on its manicured grass courts.

After winning his Grand Slam debut Monday as a qualifier ranked 733rd, the University of San Diego senior-to-be discussed navigating various NIL (name, image and likeness) and NCAA rules now that he earned about $135,000 (99,000 pounds). He explained that he needs to write off costs that can get his prize-money earnings below $10,000 so he can remain eligible to play in college when he gets back to California.

“Maybe I hire someone to help me out with the expenses,” said Tarvet, who beat Leandro Riedi of Switzerland 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. “Make sure the NCAA are happy.”

Tarvet made plenty of folks happy in the stands at Court 4 — and certain shouts kept catching his attention.

“Today was pretty funny, because I would hear this voice that would be familiar. I’d quickly give a glance — it would be my old coach when I was 10 or 11. Or my old friend (from) when I was just young. (A) player that I played when I was a little kid,” said the 21-year-old Tarvet, a communications major in school. “It was nice kind of seeing these familiar faces, them coming out to support me. Obviously, gave me a lot of energy, a lot of motivation, to go out there and win.”

His parents were there. So were the head coach, Ryan Keckley, and an assistant, Alex Funkhouser, from USD’s tennis team.

Tarvet changed into school gear — a hat and a T-shirt — following the win. He’s been the West Coast Conference player of the year the past two seasons.

Next could come even more attention: Tarvet’s opponent in the second round will be two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, who needed five sets to get past Fabio Fognini 7-5, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 at Centre Court on Monday.

Tarvet frustrated his foe Monday both with what Riedi called “mind games,” delaying the starts of some games, and, more so, terrific tennis.

Over the last two sets, Tarvet made a total of five unforced errors. Riedi accumulated 34 in that span.

“That sums it up. He was a wall. A huge wall. He moved unbelievable on grass. He was sliding everywhere. The passing shot he was producing was mind-blowing,” Riedi said. “Served pretty well. He was a clutch player today. If he can continue like this, you’re going to hear a lot (about) him.”

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AP Sports Writer Ken Maguire contributed to this report.

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis