Not many players can boast victories over Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner but British rookie Jacob Fearnley has notched up that impressive double and now looks for a third in the shape of Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon.
Fearnley’s wins over reigning Wimbledon champion Alcaraz and world number one Sinner came in his junior days.
Since then, their career paths have taken radically different directions - Alcaraz and Sinner are winning Grand Slams and banking millions of dollars while Fearnley headed to university in the United States.
“I played Alcaraz when he was maybe 14, I was 17. Sinner, I played him maybe when we were 15,” said 22-year-old Fearnley on Tuesday.
“Obviously the strides they’ve taken in their games have been a lot more than myself. The way they’re playing, it’s unbelievable.
“I don’t think I can really take anything from those victories.”
Fearnley won his first Grand Slam match on debut on Tuesday; it was also his first win of any kind on the main tour.
Before seeing off Spain’s Alejandro Moro Canas 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (14/12), his only professional match on the ATP tour came in Eastbourne last week where he was a first-round loser.
The week before, however, he illustrated his prowess on grass courts by coming out of qualifying to win a second-tier Challenger event in Nottingham.
“It’s a bit crazy,” said Fearnley, the world number 277.
He was referring to a month which also saw him help Texas Christian University win the national championships in the US at the end of his five-year college career.
Fearnley has already faced one Wimbledon giant in his time -- at the 2018 tournament, he was drafted in as a hitting partner for Roger Federer.
“That was really cool. He’s a super nice guy. Obviously a really, really special player. I learned a lot of things from those brief practice sessions,” he said.
Now he faces comfortably one of the most daunting tasks in the sport -- trying to defeat seven-time Wimbledon champion Djokovic in the second round on Thursday.
“I have no idea,” said Fearnley when asked how he planned to author a seismic victory over a man who has won 24 Grand Slam titles.
“I’ve watched so many videos of him. It doesn’t look like there’s many flaws in his game. I’m going to just try and enjoy it, put my game out on the court and see what happens.”
Djokovic admitted he knows absolutely nothing about Fearnley.
“I haven’t seen him hit. So I’ll have to do my homework,” said the Serb.
- Shade of grey -
Earlier Tuesday, Djokovic started his bid to capture a record-equalling eighth Wimbledon men’s title with a straight-sets win over Czech qualifier Vit Kopriva in his first match since undergoing knee surgery.
Djokovic eased to a 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 victory in a shade under two hours on Centre Court against his 123rd-ranked rival.
The 37-year-old did not face a break point in the entire match, which he sealed with three aces.
Djokovic, chasing a record 25th Grand Slam title, wore a grey support on his right knee after undergoing surgery on a torn meniscus, which had forced him to withdraw from the French Open after the fourth round last month.
“It was very good. I was very pleased with the way I moved on the court today,” said Djokovic after taking his Wimbledon first-round record to 19-0.
“Obviously coming into Wimbledon this year, it was a little bit of a different circumstance for me because of the knee.
“I didn’t know how everything was going to unfold on the court really. Practice sessions are quite different to official match play, so I’m just extremely glad about the way I played and the way I felt today.”
Djokovic added that his grey knee support had passed the All England Club’s stringent rules over all-white playing gear.
“Of course, we did check in the days prior if we have a permission. We’re trying to find a white one, trust me,” he explained.
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