Wimbledon umpire accused of favouritism as Brit tipped to make Carlos Alcaraz's life hard

World No.733 Oliver Tarvet was acclaimed as a "huge British wall" of talent after earning a fairytale tilt at defending Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz. If the 1,000-1 long shot from St Albans takes down the five-times Grand Slam winner in the second round, he won't just be getting away with mortar.

It would be the most sensational upset of all time on the All England Club's hallowed lawns.

Qualifier Tarvet stormed through his first-ever Grand Slam match with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 demolition of Switzerland's Leandro Riedi on intimate Court No.4 here.

Now Wimbledon's new King of Herts, who plays in the States under the collegiate system, leading the charge of 41 British players in the main draw at Wimbledon, the largest contingent since 1984.

And instead of the customary bonfire of Brits before the first jug of Pimms could get warm, on the hottest-ever opening day of the tournament - a sweltering 31.4 degrees Centigrade - this time the home guard was cooking.

On this evidence, Tarvet is going to climb the rankings faster than Spiderman can scale a tower block.

Riedi was impressed, saying: "He was a wall, a huge British wall, and some of his passing shots were mind-blowing. If he carries on playing like this, you are going to hear a lot more about him.

"He looked like a top 50 player out there today, and if he can play like that against Alcaraz, it will be tough to beat him."

On Transport for London's train set, gaps between Tubes on the District Line were longer than queues for a long-drop bathroom break at Glastonbury.

But there was nothing wrong with 21-year-old Tarvet's service. He won 91 per cent of points on his first serve, didn't concede a single break point and made only 12 unforced errors to his Swiss opponent's 51.

"He was serving rockets," said Tarvet. "I did a good job of kind of staying solid and kind of forcing the error out of him."

There may be 731 places in the ATP rankings between Alcaraz and our Tarvey Wallbanger, but it won't be a walk in the park for the Spanish superstar.

Tarvet, who is now guaranteed a minimum £99,000 in prize money - even if he won't be able to bank it all under college rules in the US - insisted: "I'm not here for the money, I'm here for the crowds, the experience and to stamp my mark on the ATP circuit.

"You work for these type of moments - it's a dream come true to play at Wimbledon, it's really special."

Although he has never played in front of more than 800 spectators before, Tarvet deserves to make his debut in front of 15,000 fans on Centre Court in his bid to become a tennis giantkiller.

He will bring the brash persona of an American college kid to the party, admitting: "Commentators say I'm a little bit too loud - if you saw me on court at University of San Diego, I'm three times as loud as I am at Wimbledon. Obviously, it's allowed there. It's part of the culture."

Part of Tarvet's act as a big noise among underdogs on the strawberry fields of SW19 is his exclamation "Gareth!" - an "inside joke" about a "soccer player" with his fellow students in California.

All over the world there will be dozens of footballers called Gareth who are hoping it's a tribute to them, and one prime suspect - former England coach Sir Gareth Southgate - was in the Royal Box on Centre Court here, sat next to Lord Beckham of Walthamstow.

Tarvet would relish the support of a home crowd, although the partisan soundtrack did not go down well with Riedi.

At one stage, the Swiss sailed dangerously close to code violations, insinuating chair umpire Miriam Bley was impartial by allowing Tarvet too long between points.

"It's because he's British," he sneered.

"I'm not British," replied Bley. When Riedi chuntered, "I don't care" he earned a stern rebuke from the German official, who warned: "I would be careful with statements like that."

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