Tennis Star Suffers Brutal Loss After Forgetting Australian Open Qualifying Rule

Sebastian Ofner suffered an unfortunate defeat in Australian Open qualifying after he forgot the rules and celebrated prematurely in a now-viral clash against Nishesh Basavareddy.

A match tiebreak was required to separate Ofner and Basavareddy in the second-round qualifying match at Melbourne Park.

Ofner, who is known for his strong serve, raced into a 7-1 lead and looked to be on the verge of victory, with final set tiebreaks at Grand Slam tournaments being the first to 10 points.

But in an extraordinary sequence of events, Ofner thought it was first to seven and celebrated by pumping his fist and pointing to his head.

The Austrian former world No. 37 even made his way over to the net before the umpire informed him of the rules.

A red-faced Ofner made his way back to the service line and proceeded to drop eight of the next nine points.

Basavareddy, meanwhile, celebrated the 4-6 6-4 7-6 (13-11) win by holding his hands to his neck in what appeared to be a 'choking' gesture aimed at his opponent.

“I knew there was still some time … In a super [match] tiebreak, you always have a chance, so I kept believing,” Basavareddy said after the game.

“After I won that next point [at 1-7] I was like – generally when that happens, you start overthinking like, ‘oh, I thought I already won the match, through to the next round’. So yeah, that definitely gave me a little bit of hope."

Basavareddy, who will face Britain's George Loffhagen in the final round of qualifying, added: "I saw him tense up a little bit, but the balls were quite old there, so every rally was a war and that was my main focus, just to put as many balls in play.”

Here's how fans on social media reacted to Ofner's error.

One said: "We are three days into the Australian Open and Sebastian Ofner has already given us probably the funniest moment of the entire tournament."

A second wrote: "Oh Sebastian Ofner with the most brutal loss ever," and a third added: "Craziest thing you’ll see. Never celebrate early in tennis."

Thoughts on the incident? Let us know in the comments.