His ‘choke’ celebration post defeating Sébastien Ofner of Austria had gone viral, and sharply divided tennis universe at the Australian Open qualifiers. But Nishesh Basavareddy, the combative American of Indian heritage, has backed up that dramatic win with another one to make the main draw after beating George Loffhagen 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
The Indiana tennis player next plays Christopher O’Donnell of Australia, but his march into the main draw has left a trail of debate. At the heart of the matter is the ‘choke’ gesture, made famous by NBA’s Reggie Miller who brought alive the rivalry between Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks. He would cross his arms over his throat in a choking motion after his clutch performances against Knicks, most famously aimed at Spike Lee in 1994. It’s quite the rage still, copied by Tyrese Haliburton.
Ready, Reddy, GO into Round 3 of #AO26 Qualifying after a marathon tie-breaker 👌@wwos • @espn • @tntsports • @wowowtennis • #AO26 pic.twitter.com/3XoKJNXV6M
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 14, 2026
Basavareddy, a Newport Beach, California, who topped at World No 99 in June last year, has dropped down to No 239, but has taken a shine for Australian Open, where he debuted at Grand Slams in 2025 and nicked a set off Novak Djokovic.
This year though, it was in the opening qualifier that Basavareddy sizzled from almost being packed off. Ofner was on the verge of claiming the third set tiebreak leading 7-1 after 4-6, 6-4, 6-6. It’s at this point, that things went meme worthy. Ofner under the impression that third set tiebreaks in qualifying were decided on first-to-7, celebrated too early.
It’s when the chair told him, “Not done yet mate. 10 point tie break.” What followed was an epic comeback. Sample the Basavareddy tiebreak scores: 1-7 down, 5-8, before levelling at 8-8, and getting match point at 9-8. Ofner would take a real match point at 9-10 but the American Indian roared back twice to finally take the sequence 10-10, 10-11, 11-11, 13-11. The choke gesture completed a dramatic victory, which drew varied reactions from the tennis fans. While some dubbed it ‘classless’ for mocking Ofner’s tragic premature fist pump. While others rallied behind Basavareddy, hailing his fighting qualities.
Basavareddy would later say, “In a super (match) tie-break, you always have a chance, so I kept believing,” Basavareddy told the Australian Open website., external. I saw him tense up a little bit, but the balls were quite old there, so every rally was a war.” While Ben Rothenberg called it the ‘wildest ride of Aus Open’, Ofner’s forgetting of rules was dubbed ‘insanity’ by other tennis media.
Yahoo Sports reported, ‘Painfully for Ofner, this wasn’t new territory. In 2023 at Kitzbuhel, he led Alex Molcan 6-4, 5-0… only to lose seven straight games, drop the second set, and eventually lose the match in a tiebreak. Wednesday’s meltdown felt like deja vu, another match that slipped through his fingers just when it seemed secure.’
While the Basavareddy tale keeps chugging at Melbourne, a year on, Djokovic’s assessment of him seems on mark. “I saw that he’s very quick. He’s a very talented player. He’s got great hands. He’s very dynamic. He can serve well, hit spots. Just a very complete game overall. Yeah, I mean, it’s going to be his, I guess, first time in the main draw of the Grand Slam, wild card, playing on the center court. Not much to lose. I’m sure that he is going to be really pumped to make a statement,” the legend had said.
Story continues below this ad
Mats Wilander meanwhile had told Eurosport, “First impression was brilliant. The technique was similar to Novak’s. The forehand was very similar. A better forehand than Novak had when Novak was at his age, because Novak struggled with his forehand early on. He moves well enough. He needs to get a little bit stronger. His serve, technically, I thought was good enough. So he has a bright future and another American youngster.”
It’s another main draw for the firecrackling Nishesh Basavareddy at Melbourne.
