Edinburgh tennis star Jacob Fearnley will start the new season at the Canberra Challenger event as he builds up to a first appearance in the main draw of the Australian Open on January 12.
The Canberra event runs from December 29 – January 4 and Jacob is listed as second seed behind Japanese Taro Daniel who has a career high ranking of 58 and a win over Andy Murray on his cv.
Third seed in Canberra is the defending champion, Dominik Koepfer.
Jacob, who picked up four Challenger titles in 2024 as he shot through the rankings to finish on 99 will then move on to an Auckland ATP 250 tournament where the standard is expected to go up considerably.
Top seed is American Ben Shelton while Cameron Norrie, ranked one place higher than Jacob at British No 2, is expected to reach the final.
The Auckland women’s event, which runs alongside the men’s, is due to feature Emma Raducanu, former US Open champion.
With British No 1 Jack Draper managing his schedule to rehab a problematic hip and pulling out of Britain’s February Davis Cup trip to Japan there is every possibility of a debut for Jacob in the world’s top men’s team event.
Likewise Draper has withdrawn from the GB team for the United Cup matches which precedes the Australian Open and it is understood that Jacob declined an invitation to step in in order to further preparations for the Melbourne Park slam.
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