Oscar Otte, the 29-year-old German, had a decent season in 2022, breaking into the Top 40 for the first time in his career. Otte seems to be a let bloomer, who has been able to get his act together quite late in his career.
The 6’4″ German made an ordinary start to the season, failing to qualify for the Adelaide International 1. However, he then registered his first victory at the Australian Open, beating Tseng Chun-hsin in the first round before losing to Italian Lorenzo Sonego in the second round.
However, he failed to impress in the Sunshine Double, losing in the second round of both the Indian Wells and the Miami Masters. He then had an ordinary run in the European Clay Swing, but managed to reach the semifinal of the Munich Open, beating World No. 17 Reilly Opelka in the process.
Impressive grass-court season:
Otte is most comfortable playing on grass as he is able to use his powerful serve and decent volleying skills to good effect on the surface. He beat Denis Shapovalov of Canada at the Stuttgart Open before finally losing to eventual champion Matteo Berrettini in the semifinal.
He then was given a chance to feature at the Halle Open, an ATP 500 tournament, and made it to the semifinal before losing to Daniil Medvedev.
Otte’s decent performance on home soil elevated him to the 36th position in the ATP rankings and he then followed up by reaching the third round of Wimbledon, where he lost to teenage prodigy Carlos Alcaraz.
Ordinary end to the season:
Otte suffered an injury to his left knee after Wimbledon and subsequently lost in the first round of the US Open. He then struggled in the Davis Cup, losing each of his three rubbers against France, Belgium and Australia, respectively.
However, Germany managed to win each of their three ties and qualified for the knock-out stage.
What lies ahead:
Otte is going to be 30 in 2023 and hence, does not have too many years left in the top. He should continue to perform well on grass by serving well and rushing the net often, but his relatively ordinary ground game and return of serve should be found wanting on slower surfaces.
However, he might be able to improve on his win-loss record of 19-26 that he had in 2022. At this stage, he is one of top five German players and migt rise further in the world rankings with his powerful game.
Main Photo from Getty.
