THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 4, 2024

Jacob Fearnley

Press Conference

N. DJOKIOVIC/J. Fearnley

6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Jacob, sum up your feelings right now for us, would you?

JACOB FEARNLEY: Yeah, I'm really proud of my effort. Obviously a little bit disappointed to come up with a loss, but I was playing the greatest tennis player of all time on Centre Court, Wimbledon, so it's very difficult to be too disappointed.

I was just super grateful to have the opportunity to play on that court against that opponent. Yeah, I think proud is how I'm feeling right now.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Jacob, obviously you go a break down. Where do you summon to the spirit to fight back against a guy like that?

JACOB FEARNLEY: I don't know, to be honest. I just did it. I tried to make as many returns as possible. I had a little bit of help with the wind that side on returns. I had come close maybe a couple of times.

I knew that I could be in the game and played some big points in that game. Yeah, came out with a break. My confidence kind of went up from there, and I played some good tennis.

Q. A massive high point for you, but how do you make sure it's not the high point? How do you kick on from here?

JACOB FEARNLEY: Well, I mean, I'm going to stay down to earth. At the end of the day I lost the match. I'm going to give myself a tap on the back and be, like, Yeah, it was a great summer.

I'll go to dinner with my family tonight, and we'll talk about it. In the next couple of days it will fizzle out, and, yeah, move on to the next.

It's just the start. I've been out of college for less than a month, a bit over a month. So, yeah, there's a lot still in the future. I think myself and everyone on my team is well aware of that.

Q. I think you noticed, Jacob, after the third set Novak was sort of gesticulating to the crowd. Playing at TCU I manage it all bounces off you. Did you notice the crowd were particularly vocal, or were there some people that maybe stepped over the line?

JACOB FEARNLEY: I noticed they were probably more towards me in the crowd. I think that was pretty obvious. I didn't notice anything crazy, but obviously I wasn't really thinking about that. I was more just dealing with the nerves that come with playing on that court.

Yeah, I didn't hear anything that was outrageous, but maybe it was in Serbian or something. I don't know.

Q. Just the support generally, I assume you've never heard a crowd that loud, although college crowds get pretty noisy.

JACOB FEARNLEY: I think once I got that break in the third set, that was the loudest a crowd has ever been on one of my matches. Yeah, it was super awesome. I didn't really know how to act.

Q. How did you end up in Fort Worth, Texas, of all places? Do you know how many people you had, either former teammates or friends, coaches from college?

JACOB FEARNLEY: Well, I ended up there because it's called TCU, Texas Christian University. That's where Cameron Norrie went to college. I knew that that was a school that I wanted to go to.

If you want to play professional tennis, they do the best job, in my opinion, of kind of that path from if you want to go to college to going pro afterwards. So that was kind of why I decided to go to Fort Worth.

Fort Worth is an unbelievable place, and the school is unbelievable. I have no regrets about my decision to go to TCU at all. Yeah, I would recommend anyone to go there for sure.

Q. Do you know how many people you had from there here?

JACOB FEARNLEY: I had three of my teammates. Luke, Jack, Kai (phonetic). No, four, Tommy. And my girlfriend, who I met at TCU, Keagan. My assistant coach, Dawson, who works for TCU. He worked for TCU Barstool. He was there, which is awesome. He works in New York, so he came over, which was awesome.

I'm trying to think who else was here. Juan. Of course, Juan, my coach. He went to TCU. I forget that always, but he went to TCU for two years. He was on the team with me for two years, and he was there. Yeah, I'm sorry if I'm missing anyone.

Q. Was the head coach from college there?

JACOB FEARNLEY: No, he wasn't there. They usually trade years. David Roditi came here last year and then Devin has come this year.

Q. Obviously you've seen a wider audience. You were probably a bit under the radar as far as this country is concerned. Is your character to embrace the pressure and the kind of the expectation I guess of people, because I know Andy Murray had a little bit of a problem when he first kind of became a public figure? Are you preparing yourself for that?

JACOB FEARNLEY: Yeah. I mean, I'm not really thinking about it. I'm aware that I've gained a lot of Instagram followers. I'm aware of that. Other than that, I mean, nothing. I don't think anything has really changed. Yeah, I don't think it's going to really affect me. Yeah, I don't think so.

Q. What's your Insta gone up to from?

JACOB FEARNLEY: I think I started on about 2,400 followers maybe, and now I'm over 5,000 now. So I've gained a few for sure, which is nice, yeah.

Q. There are so many Brits in action today, and it's obviously very fun walking around the grounds. Do you guys feel that energy at all? I know just you're so siloed and focused on your own matches, but how aware are you that Jack and Cam are out there and Katie and Harriet? It's a lot of energy today.

JACOB FEARNLEY: Yeah, I was aware that there was a lot of British people as well as Andy and Jamie going on Centre Court two matches after me. Yeah, I was aware there was a lot of hype around British tennis today.

Yeah, a lot of great matches so far. My match, Katie, and Harriet's match was 6 in the third and then Cam and Jack are having a really good match now.

It's a great day for British tennis, and there's no better place to do it than at home at Wimbledon. Yeah, it's an unbelievable tournament, unbelievable crowd.

Q. Did you make it to the rodeo in Fort Worth?

JACOB FEARNLEY: No, I didn't. I didn't. No, I didn't. Yeah, I've been to the stockyards a couple of times. I've never been to the rodeo, yeah.

Q. You mentioned on the Tuesday obviously about Andy, watching him in 2013. I wonder if you managed to speak to him since they're winning and also what your plans are after this? Are you looking at US Open, trying to get into qualifying for that?

JACOB FEARNLEY: Yeah. I mean, I haven't spoken to Andy, but I know that he said some words to Mark Hilton, who is working with Andy, and he is working quite closely with me and the LTA, and he gave Mark some points to give to me, which was nice.

The stuff he said actually helped a lot. Not unsurprisingly because he's played him so many times. That was really nice of him.

Yeah, I don't know if he watched it, but yeah, it was awesome that he was even thinking about the match. Yeah, it was really cool.

In terms of the future, I don't know where my ranking is really at right now. I think I'm on 220, so I think I'm into quallies as of now, if I'm not mistaken. But I'm not so sure.

I think I'm going to go over to the States and play some of the challengers there and hopefully get into Newport 250 in qualifying and, yeah, just excited to get back playing.

Q. Is there any significance with the dog tags, the message on them or anything like that?

JACOB FEARNLEY: This one? No, I don't think there's a message. No, I got it from my granddad actually for my 18th birthday, so I always wear it. I've worn it, yeah - how old am I now, 25 years - yeah, five years.

Q. Just a question on your background, family, friends. Who was here supporting you today and what was the scene in Edinburgh? What was that all like?

JACOB FEARNLEY: I've got a large family, so yeah, they were all watching. In terms of family that were here, my mom, my dad, and my brother were here, which was awesome. I have about I think 14 first cousins, 13 first cousins, so I have a big family on my mom's side, and they were all watching.

They've all sent their congrats and super proud of me, which was really cool. I'm glad they got to watch something like that.