Edinburgh’s Jacob Fearnley showed plenty of guts and commitment, but ultimately came up short – 6-7, 5-7, 6-3, 6-7 against Poland’s Kamil Majchrazk in the first round of the Australian Open tennis today.
This was an especially costly defeat for 24-year-old Fearnley as failure to defend third round ranking points from a year ago will see him tumble down the rankings from his present position of 78.
A series of qualifying tournaments or Challenger (second tier) events are his immediate future although he can maybe take encouragement from the way fellow Scot Cam Norrie has battled back from a similar slide.
Easier said that done with the service problems that have plagued Jacob recently very much to the fore once again.
Allowing for the fact this was a four set encounter 10 doubles is far, far, too many.
Indeed in five counting matches over three tournaments in 2026 Jacob has served up 38 double faults.
This was a match the Scot could well have won even against a higher ranked rival and when he pulled back a set to lead 3-0 in the fourth it looked like his heavier ground shots and subtle net play would ultimately prevail.
Considerable momentum was with him.
However, standards slipped again, the 10th double on the penultimate point of the match an extreme discouragement going forward?
Jacob, whose next engagement is likely to be with the GB Davis Cup squad in Norway early next month, said:
“I just didn’t play good in the big moments. I just need to be more confident and back myself a little bit more, and honestly just play better. “Over the past six or seven months I feel I have been playing pretty sub-par. I just need a good run somewhere to give me confidence.”
