Jacob Fearnley has been given a massive incentive to progress in the second major event of the tennis season, the French Open, in Paris starting this weekend.
The 24-year-old Scot from Edinburgh has been handed a first round draw against Argentinian left hander Juan Manuel Cerundola and were he to prevail the strong likelihood is he would face world No 1 and four time slam winner, Jannik Sinner, provided he overcomes initial rival, Clement Tabur.
A formidable challenge for Jacob should it materialise – but one which would evoke memories of how he overcame the illustrious Italian in junior tennis days.
Of course Cerundola represents a considerable test in his own right particularly as he comes into the Roland Garros venue with strong momentum having won the Challenger event in Bordeaux last week.
A clay court specialist, Cerundola is renowned for his ability to sustain rallies at pace, eventually wearing opponents down.
By contrast with Cerundola’s winning exploits Jacob lost out in the first round in Bordeaux, going down in three sets to Frenchman Titouan Droguet with a performance that summed up his mercurial season.
Besides six double faults at times Jacob was guilty of netting straightforward approach shots on either flank; on the upside his power hitting to the corners was in evidence at times.
Today Jacob’s ranking has dropped to around 110 in the world rankings – Cerundola is in the low 50’s but seems always to struggle against top 30 players – whereas he was sailing into the top 50 a year ago helped by reaching the third round in Paris where he eventually lost to fellow Scot Cameron Norrie.
