East of Scotland tennis ambassador, Jacob Fearnley, is back playing with a smile on his face after a stunning five set comeback win over Californian Alex Michelsen on Wimbledon’s court 15 today.
Fearnley won 3-6. 4-6. 6-2. 6-3. 6-2 against a 21-year-old opponent currently ranked world no 44 but who has been as high at 30.
The Scot, a former member of Edinburgh’s Colinton Club who grew up playing with his family on the courts at Dalkeith, now plays Spain’s world No 42 Jaume Munar who caused an upset by beating Queen’s Club champion Francisco Cerundola in straight sets.
After a spell in the doldrums partly caused by a series of injuries which eroded his confidence this was the win that saw Fearnley – down to No 150 after being world No 49 a year ago – posted the win that could revitalise a player whose talent has never been in doubt especially after wins oveclaiming r Sinner and Alcaraz as a junior while attending the Merchiston Castle tennis academy.
How much he owed to the sports psychologist the BBC claimed in commentary he had been working with we will never know but with a guaranteed £120,000 in earnings from this year’s Championships it has got to be money well spent.
Little wonder Jacob’s immediate reaction on serving out the win was to rush to embrace his coaching team sitting courtside.
Of course Jacob did it the hard way but had the nous to abandon plans to out-hit the 6ft 4in American.
Instead Jacob worked the corners of the court with his accurate ground strokes forcing a string of unforced errors and overall he hit 48 clean winners to his rival’s 35.
Even when trailing there was a purposefulness about Jacob that we haven’t seen for a while and to double break in the 5th set of a + 3 hour spectacle then serve out confidently was a joy to behold.
Jacob Fearnley is back? Well, a few double faults aside, he certainly has momentum on his side.
