Britain’s newest top-100 tennis participant Jacob Fearnley says he would “definitely not say no” to recommendation from Andy Murray.
The 23-year-old Scot sits at 98 within the newly up to date rankings, becoming a member of Jack Draper and Cameron Norrie within the prime echelon of the lads’s sport.
The pace of Fearnley’s rise has been most astonishing. He was a university scholar at Texas Christian College (TCU) in america till Might and was ranked 525th when he turned up for qualifying on the Challenger event in Nottingham a few weeks later.
Fearnley, from Edinburgh, went on to win the event, incomes himself a Wimbledon wild card, the place he reached the second spherical and took a set off Novak Djokovic.
Davis Cup captain Leon Smith has recognized Fearnley since he was an toddler and is retaining a detailed eye on his progress, whereas one other well-known Scot can also be sure to be taking notice.
Fearnley has not but met Andy Murray however hopes that can quickly change.
“I really want to meet him,” mentioned Fearnley. “Rising up he was a giant inspiration and he was the determine who I watched essentially the most.
“What he has achieved for himself and his country has been amazing, the way he fights on the court and the way he plays has been special to watch.
“Any tennis participant rising up within the UK, and particularly Scotland, he’s somebody all of us aspire to be. Hopefully I can observe in his footsteps however I do know it’s a very exhausting activity.”
Teaching is on Murray’s radar following his retirement, so might Fearnley, who has his countryman’s former coach Mark Hilton amongst his crew, be the right challenge?
“Right now I’m very happy with the coaching I have,” he mentioned. “But, if he wants to give me advice and help me in any way, I would definitely not say no.”
Fearnley has performed 4 extra occasions on the notoriously tough second-tier Challenger Tour and gained three of them to propel himself into double digits.
He has achieved his new rating from solely 13 tournaments, considerably the fewest within the prime 100, giving him loads of scope to maneuver larger.
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A have a look at 10 of Andy Murray’s biggest ever factors from the ATP Tour
His subsequent problem is to see if he can replicate his success on the ATP Tour. He’ll play qualifying on the Nordic Open in Stockholm later this month, together with his rapid goal to safe a fundamental draw spot on the Australian Open in January, which he’s properly on target for.
“It’s obviously not what I expected,” mentioned Fearnley. “It came definitely faster than I expected but I put in a lot of hard work so I think it’s not too surprising that I was able to reach this level. It’s a great feeling and I’m really happy with the way things have gone.
“I am conscious this possibly is not the norm so I am undoubtedly attempting to remain within the second and never let too many ideas and an excessive amount of of what’s occurring exterior of the court docket get to me. It is very tough to do.
“It is also finding time to enjoy what I’ve been able to do and be aware it’s an amazing achievement and something I’m not going to take for granted and enjoy it while it lasts. Hopefully on to bigger and better things.”
What’s developing on Sky Sports activities Tennis in October?
- Shanghai Masters – ATP 1000 (October 2-13)
- Wuhan Open – WTA 1000 (October 6-12)
- Almaty Open, Kazakhstan – ATP 250 (October 14-20)
- Stockholm Open, Sweden – ATP 250 (October 14-20)
- European Open, Antwerp – ATP 250 (October 14-20)
- Japan Open, Osaka – WTA 250 (October 14-20)
- Ningbo Open, China – WTA 500 (October 14-20)
- Erste Financial institution Open, Vienna – ATP 500 (October 21-27)
- Swiss Indoors, Basel – ATP 500 (October 21-27)
- Guangzhou Open, China – WTA 250 (October 21-27)
- Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis, Tokyo – WTA 500 (October 21-27)
Sky Sports activities+ has formally launched and shall be built-in into Sky TV, streaming service NOW and the Sky Sports activities app, giving Sky Sports activities prospects entry to over 50 per cent extra stay sport this 12 months at no further value. Discover out extra right here.
