Jacob Fearnley hopes Wimbledon can be the start of an upward trend despite a second-round loss to Jaume Munar.
The Scot announced himself to the British public two years ago when he played Novak Djokovic on Centre Court, and this time last year, he was ranked just outside the top 50.
A tough 12 months meant he needed a wild card to get into the main draw this time, with his ranking having slipped to 159, so a first-ever five-set win in the opening round, fighting back from two sets down to defeat talented young American Alex Michelsen, was a huge boost.
He could not back it up against 44th-ranked Spaniard Munar but had his chances in a 6-4 7-6 (3) 6-4 defeat on Court 12. “Still, it was a good week,” said Fearnley. “Obviously, I wanted to win a match.
“I can definitely be positive and try to take the positives even from today. I feel like the way I played even the last few weeks has been progress.
“I’m obviously going to be disappointed and learn from today. I’m going to use whatever experiences I had this week and in the last few weeks to try and hopefully kick on these next few months.”
A long second set proved crucial, with Fearnley losing an early break and then seeing four break points go begging at 4-4.
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Munar served particularly well in the big moments, none more so than in a flawless tie-break, and another break to start the third set sealed Fearnley’s fate.
“Obviously, all matches you lose, especially if they’re close, you look back, and you realise that there were some chances that you probably missed,” said the 24-year-old.
“I wasn’t expecting him to serve that big. I think he was consistently hitting over 135mph and hitting spots. Credit to him.
“The way he plays, he just makes a lot of balls, and he’s extremely good at that. I made a few big errors in big moments. But I’m OK with that to a certain extent. I have to go for it.
“Obviously, the first game in the third set was just a complete concentration lapse, and that cost me big time.”
Fearnley admitted a first five-set match may have affected him physically, adding: “I definitely did feel more tired today.
“Obviously, the way he plays, he does make the rallies a little bit more physical than perhaps Michelsen would have done. I think that the court was a little bit slower, as well. Obviously, crowd involved, playing on a slightly bigger court, all kinds of zap your energy a little bit more.”
