Jacob Fearnley earned the biggest win of his career on Saturday, taking out No. 19 seed Tomas Machac at the Madrid Open. But he had to do it the hard way, coming from a set down and rolling his ankle in the process.
Before this month, the British No. 2 had never won a professional match on the clay. After coming through qualifying, he now finds himself through to the third round of the Madrid Open, his first-ever clay-court Masters 1000 tournament. But Fearnley admitted he was “in pain” after turning his ankle and needed painkillers to keep playing.
Fearnley is still a relatively unknown name on the ATP Tour. A former college tennis player, the Brit turned pro last year and has enjoyed a rapid rise up the rankings, currently sitting at a career-high of No. 68.
The 23-year-old is still getting used to playing on clay, making his debut on the surface in Barcelona Open qualifying two weeks ago. And he appears to be a fast learner, as he’s now scored the first top-20 win of his career against Machac.
The skilled Czech played raced through the first set but Fearnley suddenly found a second wind after rolling his ankle and taking some tablets for the pain, winning 1-6 6-3 6-2.
After the match, the British No. 2 claimed the injury actually helped him to play better. “It’s an interesting one,” he told Sky Sports.
“I think I was playing – taking nothing away from Tomas – I was playing some of the worst tennis I played in a while.
“And then I actually rolled my ankle and was in a decent amount of pain and just kind of loosened up a little bit, honestly. And I think, believe it or not, a twisted ankle actually helped my performance today.
“And then the doc gave me some painkillers and then I felt I was serving that last set some of the best I’ve served in a long time. Super happy to get the win and looking forward to the next one.”
Fearnley will have a day to recover before he faces 15th seed Grigor Dimitrov in the third round on Monday. But he’ll have to see how his ankle holds up.
He added: “We’ll see. Obviously I’ve got painkillers, adrenaline, so we’ll see how I’m feeling in a little bit. As of now, my body is in a good position considering it’s four matches in, four tough matches in.”
A year ago, the Brit was unranked and still attending Texas Christian University, graduating in May 2024. Now, he’s through to the third round of a Masters 1000 event.
It’s a learning experience for Fearnley, who also got a taste of the premier events in Indian Wells and Miami last month.
“It’s definitely different experiences for me but the more I play these big matches, these big tournaments, get used to these kind of surroundings, the better I handle them and the better I overall play,” he explained.
“All these experiences are adding up and I’m keeping note of them. I think that will hopefully fare me well in the next match, I know it will be another very, very difficult match.”
