Back in the days when Jacob Fearnley and Jack Draper were friends and competitors on the junior tennis circuit, in young Jack’s more unruly moment his parents would bemoan: ‘Why can’t you behave more like Jacob?’
Draper related the story after Fearnley had taken the prized scalp of Nick Kyrgios, the highlight of four British wins out of four on day two of the Australian Open.
‘We were under 12s, under 14s and he would always be very level-headed, very calm and most of the time he would get the better of me when we were playing,’ said Draper after his own win, a five-set tussle against Argentina’s Mariano Navone.
Never can Fearnley’s placid demeanour have been more valuable than in this match. The night session crowd on John Cain arena were here to see Kyrgios and they were here to party. They were ready to explode but Fearnley cut the red wire and then the green and defused the bomb.
You do not survive the wild west of US college tennis without having a bit of ticker and Texas Christian University grad Fearnley played with expressionless, relentless aggression.
He drained all the emotion out of the stadium, at least until Kyrgios broke back in the third set. The crowd belatedly woke up and began cheering every Fearnley error but the Scot’s nerve never wavered and he closed out 7-6, 6-3, 7-6.
British star Jacob Fearnley (left) sent Nick Kygrios (right) crashing out the Australian Open
Jack Draper later took the time to heap praise on the 23-year-old’s success in Melbourne
‘It was one of the best experiences of my life,’ said the 23-year-old. ‘I was extremely nervous. It wasn’t really until I walked out there that I was kind of calm.
‘I knew I couldn’t show any emotion because the crowd was just going to eat that alive. So I was fighting to stay composed and calm and not give them anything.’
Kyrgios was seriously hindered by an abdominal injury picked up last week but if he had been allowed to get up a head of steam and bring the crowd into it he would have taken some stopping. Fearnley denied him any momentum.
The serve was the area which was most compromised by the ab problem and Fearnley’s average first serve speed was almost seven kilometres per hour faster than the normally rapid Kyrgios.
‘I had it before I got here,’ Kyrgios said to the physio as he received treatment on the injury. ‘I don’t know why I f****** played. It was so dumb.’
But this was a dignified exit from Kyrgios and he gave generous credit to his opponent. He also suggested 2025 would be the final year of his career, saying: ‘Realistically I can’t see myself playing a singles match here again.’
The stories of Draper and Fearnley are a good case study for the fact there is more than one way to skin this sport. When Draper was taking the first set off Novak Djokovic on Centre Court in 2021, Fearnley was in his second year at Texas with the pro tour a distant dream – and yet here they are in the last 64 of the Australian Open.
They both have very winnable matches on Wednesday, too: Fearnley plays French world No 78 Arthur Cazaux and it is Draper’s turn to face a local favourite, Kyrgios’ amigo and doubles partner Thanasi Kokkinakis.
Fearnley admitted that the victory was ‘one of the best experiences of my life’
Kyrgious admitted that it could be the last time he would play singles at the Australian Open
We spoke to Draper during the last knockings of Fearnley’s victory. He was delighted for his friend but not remotely surprised.
‘We took a bit of a different path, he went to university and I played pro but it’s amazing to see his progress in the last year,’ said the British No 1.
‘He’s not someone who’s going to just break the top 100 and have a few good wins – he’s definitely going to be at the top of the game. I think we’re going to have a really healthy, competitive rivalry. He’s a friend and I want him to succeed and do amazing things and I’m sure he will.’
Draper had to work awfully hard to win his opening match against Navone. He was really pretty awful for most of the match but the top players know how to dig out ugly wins and dig he did, coming through 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Four British wins was a pleasant surprise today – especially since at the start of the day we had only three names on the schedule. But when Marketa Vondrousova withdrew with a hip injury, Harriet Dart was summoned as a ‘lucky loser’ from qualifying to take her spot against Jana Fett.
Meanwhile, Draper had to work awfully hard to win his opening match against Mariano Navone
That match turned out to be a nerve-shredding epic, with Dart sneaking through 10-7 in the deciding tiebreak.
The first British winner of the day was Jodie Burrage, who put months of injury torment behind her to comfortably beat Leolia Jeanjean for her first ever win here in Melbourne.
Burrage wept with joy after the match and said: ‘All of those emotions from the last nine months were bottled up in there. It was always going to come out at some point.’
The 25-year-old earns a crack at Coco Gauff on Wednesday, while Dart will play Wimbledon semi-finalist Donna Vekic.
