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Jacob Fearnley said keeping his composure against the “rowdy” Australian Open crowd was key to landing the biggest win of his career as the 23-year-old Scot defeated home favourite Nick Kyrgios to reach the second round.
Fearnley was expecting a hostile atmosphere on the John Cain Arena but managed to silence the crowd for long spells as Kyrgios struggled with an abdominal injury on his first match at his home grand slam in three years.
A late comeback from Kyrgios was not enough as Fearnley secured a 7-6 6-3 7-6 victory, with the former Wimbledon finalist admitting he may have played his final singles match at the Australian Open due to his frustrations with injury.
And Fearnley, who a year ago was ranked 646th in the world but has enjoyed a stunning rise since turning professional, denied Kyrgios a send-off win as he booked a second-round match against Frenchman Arthur Cazaux.
“I think a lot of it was mental, especially in that third set,” Fearnley said. “You could kind of see that the tide was turning a little bit. I had to really fight to stay composed and not let my emotions get the better of me, not let the crowd get to my head.
“It was amazing. Honestly, it was one of the best experiences of my life. Obviously I was extremely nervous. It wasn’t really until I walked out there that I actually was kind of calm.
“I think I kind of knew that I couldn’t really show any emotion because I felt that the crowd was just going to eat that alive. So I was kind of fighting to just stay composed and stay calm and not give them anything. That’s kind of what happened.”
Fearnley told John McEnroe during his on-court interview that he had experience dealing with heckling fans during his college days at Texas Christian University, but admitted that he struggled sleeping ahead of facing Kyrgios in Melbourne.
When pushed by McEnroe, Fearnley said the victory was the best of his career. “I knew it was going to be a rowdy match,” he said on court. “I’m sorry for Nick, I knew he was dealing with some stuff but he played some unbelievable tennis.
“I just tried to focus on myself as best as I could. All things considered, it’s probably the best match I’ve ever played.”
Before the Australian Open Kyrgios had played just two tournaments since reaching the US Open quarter-finals in September 2022, spending long periods on the sidelines due to wrist surgery and hip issues.
The controversial Australian and his powerful serve were hampered by his latest problem but he said he did not want to quit as he did not know if he would be back playing singles again.
“I mean, realistically I can’t really see myself probably playing singles again here,” Kyrgios told reporters after the defeat.
“It was definitely not my best performance. But, look, full credit to my opponent. He played really well tonight. I was really impressed with his level. Hits the ball really flat, really aggressive.
“I knew tonight was going to be tough. With my physical state going into the match, I knew that I was going to be really hindered with my serve.
“It was hard to kind of throw the towel in. Would have been really easy to kind of just roll over. I tried to do the best I could with the state I was in physically. Obviously heartbreaking because, yeah, I obviously wanted to play well. I feel like my level’s there.”
