ROLAND GARROS

May 31, 2025

Jacob Fearnley

Press Conference

C. NORRIE/J. Fearnley

6-3, 7-6, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: A tough British battle today. Can you tell us about the match?

JACOB FEARNLEY: Yeah, obviously tough. Tough playing Cam. Yeah, definitely didn't play good, but yeah, credit to Cam. He was very solid. Didn't really give me a lot of errors.

Yeah, that was really it, to be honest. Yeah, a lot of respect for Cam for his fight and for making it difficult for me, but yeah, just didn't execute well enough today.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Can you tell us what it was like with all that noise going on, the fireworks?

JACOB FEARNLEY: It's brutal. It's far from ideal, but yeah, that's life, isn't it? I understand PSG playing is probably a bit more important than this match, so it is what it is. But, yeah, it's tough. No, definitely not a reason why I lost the match, for sure.

Q. On all that kind of stuff going on, when Cam was taking a big lead in the second set, I was kind of wondering whether maybe some players on the tour who have been around for a long time might have started to say something to the umpire about, you know, We need to get the match moved, something like that, to kind of break his rhythm or something like that. Is that something you could ever see yourself doing, or is that just not in your DNA?

JACOB FEARNLEY: No.

Q. And did you consider saying something to the umpire? Did you think the conditions were playable?

JACOB FEARNLEY: No, I would never really say -- unless it was really bothering us, I never really would say anything like that. I just don't think it's worth it, to be honest.

Yeah, I feel like there were massive fireworks. I feel like there was nothing really anyone could have done. Even if we had moved court, it's a bit of an effort. I didn't really think that it was affecting the match that much to have to move everything and disrupt the order of play.

But obviously it was really bad, and it was something -- I think I remember in Australia when I was playing Arthur Cazaux, they asked to move the match that was next to us because it was physically way too loud. So obviously if it was a situation like that, then yeah, I would ask to move, but I think today it was just one of those things.

Q. American college tennis is pretty raucous. Have you played anything at TCU that sort of bears comparison to the wilder side of today's match?

JACOB FEARNLEY: Yeah, I mean, there's definitely been some tough matches when I was at TCU, but I think it's just all the matches that are playing here is just on bigger scale and more people, more noise, but it definitely helped.

I did get exposed to some tough environments. So, yeah, it was definitely a stepping stone for sure to be able to deal with this kind of stuff.

Q. Do you think Cam can beat Novak if that is the match up in the next round?

JACOB FEARNLEY: Yeah, of course. Cam makes things very difficult for you. Yeah, 100%. If he believes he can win and he has a good day, a solid day, then yeah, definitely he can beat Novak.

I think the good thing about men's tennis is that, especially nowadays, you kind of feel that anyone can beat anyone on their day. I think, yeah, if Cam plays good, 100% he can beat Novak.

Q. What is your journey looking like? What tournaments are you going to be playing in?

JACOB FEARNLEY: I think I'm signed up to play Hertogenbosch, I think. I don't even know what day it is. Saturday is today, so next -- I think starting, like, the 8th of June. So, yeah, probably play that, and then just Queen's, Eastbourne, and then into Wimbledon, yeah.

Q. Just curious about, this is obviously your first clay court season in six years. From my perspective it's been pretty damn impressive and successful. How are you feeling in general about how you've performed during this clay season?

JACOB FEARNLEY: Yeah, I mean, right now it's quite -- it's tough to see a lot of positives because I am disappointed with how I played today, but yeah, I definitely didn't expect to be in the third round of the French Open.

I played two qualifying matches in Barcelona, and I was thinking it's going to be a tough, tough run for me just because those matches felt terrible to play.

So to win matches, and I think I've got the majority of my points this year on clay, is pretty special. It definitely does give me some confidence.

I really tried my best to put everything into every practice on the clay and into the match. I think it will bode me well for the rest of the season, the work that I've done on the clay, for sure.

Q. I wanted to ask you about the end of the second set. You got your backhand going from 4-1 down. You played really well to level at 5-All. Not a very good game at 5-All. Good game to break back and then a poor tiebreak. What is going through your mind at that stage? It was a real mixture of quality and sub your standard.

JACOB FEARNLEY: I think, I mean, I was struggling a lot emotionally today just on some of my shots. I was very nervous, obviously, with all the stuff that was going on around the court. Yeah, obviously Cam handled that better.

I think just, like, physically, I was a bit -- it was so humid out there. I was struggling a little bit. I think mentally I tried so hard to come back to 5-All that when I did get back to 5-All, I kind of relaxed a little bit. Then I was serving terrible, and I give him looks at second serves, first serves, and like slow first serves. It's too easy. At that level, Cam especially, who makes so many balls, it's just too easy.

Yeah, I just think once I kind of got back, I tried so hard mentally to do it that when I did get back, I relaxed, and I was just mentally a little bit drained. I think that was why I played pretty bad in those moments.

Q. You spoke about the clay. How do you feel with grass? Is that something you like or...

JACOB FEARNLEY: I think so. I enjoyed it last year. I think I won Nottingham last year and, yeah, played decent at Wimbledon. Yeah, I think I like it. I haven't played on it since, so yeah, we'll see in a couple of days when I get on the grass, but I think it suits my game pretty well.

Q. Just since we're on the theme, are you a big football fan?

JACOB FEARNLEY: Not really, to be honest. I do like football, but I haven't followed it in ages. I used to support Hibs, but that was a long, long time ago.

Q. What are your plans kind of immediately now? Is it straight back to London and on the grass, or will you give yourself a couple of days off here or somewhere else?

JACOB FEARNLEY: I'll definitely leave Paris, I think. I've been here for quite a while now. The weeks go pretty long when you have a lot of days off in between matches, but yeah, I think I'll probably go straight to London, to be honest, just because the plan obviously is to play Hertogenbosch.

Right now I think I'm in qualifying, so I probably have to go back to London. Maybe light hit on Monday on the grass, and then start training for that.

Q. Your rankings now are around the top 50. I'm curious, do you see yourself kind of playing ATP events only now? Is it possible that you'll still try and play challengers here and there?

JACOB FEARNLEY: I mean, I think as long as the ranking kind of stays in the kind of vicinity of top 50 and getting into ATPs, then yeah, I think there's no reason why I wouldn't play ATPs.

There's better experiences, better players obviously, and obviously more points and more award up for grabs. I think I always kind of want to push myself, and I think that's the best way to get better. So, yeah, I'll play those.