Events at Wimbledon do not usually have the people of Ireland on the edge of their seats. Tennis trails well behind gaelic football, hurling, football and rugby in terms of spectators and it is easily outstripped by swimming and golf when it comes to participation. However, a few more Irish eyes than usual will be trained on SW19 when Conor Niland becomes only the second Irishman to play in the main draw in the Open Era.

The 29-year-old, who is ranked 184 in the world, will play the Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in round one, with the six-times champion Roger Federer– a player he used to beat when they were juniors – likely to await in round two.

"It's brilliant," says Niland. "It's the thing I've always wanted and if I could have chosen a slam to do it, it would be Wimbledon. Tennis isn't necessarily something people talk about in the pub in Ireland but they understand when someone plays at Wimbledon they can obviously play a bit."

The American-born and raised Matt Doyle became an Irish citizen in 1985, but his last appearance at Wimbledon came the year before, when he was still a United States player. So instead Niland will be following in the footsteps of Sean Sorensen, who lost to Rod Laver in the first round in 1977 and played for a second time in 1980. Ticket requests from family and friends have been coming thick and fast.

Niland, pictured below, won through three qualifiers to reach the first round proper, sealing his place with a victory over Nikola Mektic on Saturday. His achievement is in stark contrast to the efforts of Britain's men – all eight involved in qualifying failed to make it through. Calls for Niland to be awarded a wild card were led by Andy Murray but even though he was ranked higher than every Briton other than Murray, he was overlooked.

"I'm sure I was pretty close to getting one but I don't really know what the criteria are," Niland says. "Obviously they're under no obligation to give me one – I was applying as an Irish player – but it was great that I managed to qualify and it's a much better feeling to qualify than to get in by a wild card. Maybe if I'd got a wild card people would have said, 'Oh, he's in Wimbledon but he had to be given a spot.' I'm just delighted that I'm in and to come through the qualifying is the best way to do it, really."

Niland has done things off his own bat for most of his career. He was born in Birmingham but his parents moved the family back to Limerick when he was two and he stayed there until the age of 16, when he went to Millfield, the public school in Somerset that is renowned for its sporting prowess. After three years he went to study English at the University of California at Berkeley and his progress up the ladder has been steady since then.

Murray is a big fan and after inviting the Irishman to train with him at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton last autumn, the world No4 was full of praise for his work ethic.

"We practised together I think four times last year," Niland says. "Obviously it's brilliant for me to get that kind of level and it was great for my confidence. When you go into your next tournament you're not going to see anything you haven't seen the week before. I actually had a really good run after those few hits, I enjoyed it and it's something I'd really like to do again."

Mannarino was beaten by the British No2, James Ward, in the Aegon Championships at Queen's a little over a week ago. Niland believes he can win.

"I'm going to have to play very well to win it but it's one of those matches I suppose you could say is winnable," he says. "We'll see what happens but I'll definitely go out to compete and try my best."