ROLAND GARROS

May 26, 2026

Jacob Fearnley

Press Conference

JM CERUNDOLO/J. Fearnley

6-2, 7-6, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Jacob, not the result you wanted, obviously, but could you talk us through your match and how the conditions were? How did you feel on court today?

JACOB FEARNLEY: Yeah, I mean, tough match, for sure. I kind of knew that going in just knowing how he plays, but yeah, it was tough out there, the conditions. It was hot. I haven't played in conditions like that in a long time, and I felt it for sure. Yeah, it was a tough day.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. I noticed you sat in the chair for quite a long time after the match. Obviously, it was a tough one for you. What was going through your mind at that point?

JACOB FEARNLEY: To be honest, I wasn't really thinking about too much. My stomach was sore. Yeah, I was just tired, and obviously, yeah, it was a tough three-hour match in tough conditions.

Yeah, I was, yeah, obviously disappointed.

Q. You said your stomach was sore.

JACOB FEARNLEY: Yeah.

Q. Was that injury, illness, sickness?

JACOB FEARNLEY: I guess just sickness. I mean, I probably brought it on myself. Obviously I was tired, and I probably just ended up chugging water too fast at the change event. And yeah, it just causes the stomach to be a bit sore. Especially if you are running and stuff like that as well, yeah.

Q. Certainly two Brits out of six in the second round, why are they not performing well on clay as a general thing?

JACOB FEARNLEY: I mean, you know, obviously being from the U.K., it's not a surface that we ever really play on. I mean, if you compare it to the guy I played or the guy -- I don't know what happened with Cam, but the guy he played, I mean, those guys, they've grown up on clay. In Argentina, wherever he's from, Peru, I don't know, they only have clay courts there.

So I think just that aspect alone is probably why they're probably performing better on clay than us, but I mean, I think like Cam, for example, he's very good on clay. I think he just had, I guess, I don't know, injury. Yeah, which that's not like Cam to withdraw. Unless it was something serious.

I don't think you can read too much into that. But yeah, I think it was just not a surface that we're as good at.

Q. You seemed to grow into the match after a difficult first set. Is that how you felt, and did you adapt better to conditions as it went on?

JACOB FEARNLEY: No, I mean, I felt worse and worse as the match is going on conditions-wise, to be honest. Obviously, yeah, I started playing a little bit better.

You know, I was having fun out there. It was a fun atmosphere, fun to play. Obviously in the French Open, it's really cool.

But, yeah, just didn't play good in the big moments.

Q. Can you take some confidence in those last two sets heading into the grass season? Do you know yet what your schedule is going to be?

JACOB FEARNLEY: Yeah, no, I think I can. You know, I still feel like I'm getting back to playing the tennis that I know I can play.

You know, the last kind of six, eight months haven't been amazing, you know, just on the court. Yeah, I can take something from it, and also the fact I'm healthy. I think the rib injury is behind me a little bit.

So I'm looking forward to practicing a little bit harder and, you know, really making a push to get better going into the grass.

Q. Going into Wimbledon, there is a real dearth of top-100 players at the moment. There will be a lot of wildcards given, but is there things for British fans to worry about given the state of British tennis? Obviously such a big event.

JACOB FEARNLEY: What, as in?

Q. Just generally. People tune into Wimbledon every year, and there hasn't been a British player that were in form and doing well --

JACOB FEARNLEY: Oh, in the top 100. Is that what you're saying? Yeah, okay.

I mean, we'll see, I guess. Jack obviously, hopefully, will be back. You never know. He has the capability to play the best as good as anyone.

Obviously, hopefully, the injury for Cam isn't too serious. I mean, I think, to be honest, I feel like the state of British tennis is pretty good. I don't even know how many guys we had in quallies here. I think in the tournament I think we had 15, 16 guys, and obviously that's a very positive thing.

I think going into the grass season, the Brits tend to do well. I think you'll see probably some people you've never heard of before making really deep runs in a lot of big tournaments. I think that's the great thing about the grass season is that it's usually favored towards the Brits, because I mean, we have lots of grass courts.

I know for a fact all the guys that, you know, lose here, they're straight on the grass the next day. I think the state of British tennis going into grass is probably pretty good.

Q. You obviously had a good run here last year, and you lose those points. I think you were around 70th at the start of the year. I think you are now 140-ish. Is it hard to see it drop? Do you feel like you're always chasing it, and is it hard to accept, I suppose, if it feels like you're trying to arrest that slide?

JACOB FEARNLEY: I feel like I've already come to terms with it, to be honest. It's not something that I can look at and be, like, whoa, how the hell did that happen? You know, because you haven't been playing well.

It's something that I've come to terms with. Yeah, and it's really not the end of the world.

I think even if I was just taking a little bit of a positive perspective, it's like even if I was, you know, two years out of college and was 140 in the world, I would probably still be pretty happy about it.

So, yeah, trying to keep that perspective.

Q. I think you need a wildcard for Wimbledon, don't you, because your ranking was outside of...

JACOB FEARNLEY: Yeah.

Q. Does that change the mindset because you don't know in the next two weeks if you have to go for qualifying or wildcard? What do you hope will happen?

JACOB FEARNLEY: Honestly, yeah, I hope I get a wildcard, but it's not the end of the world for me. I feel like I'm a big believer in, like, I want to earn it, and if they think that I need to prove myself a little bit more, I mean, like I said earlier, there's a lot of good guys that are worthy of wildcards, then that's fine as well.

But obviously, yeah, I would love to play. Get a wildcard and play a major at Wimbledon, but if I have to attempt to do it the hard way, then that's what will be.

Q. And for the grass court events before Wimbledon, there's quite a lot of competition, isn't there, for the wildcards from British players compared to this time last year. Have you had any reassurances from Leon that you're going to get a wildcard for this tournament and that tournament?

JACOB FEARNLEY: No, I haven't, and I mean, I've entered all the challengers as well. You know, I plan to play whatever I get into, and I'm very aware of the fact that there's a lot of guys that are worthy of wildcards, and I know that Leon and the guys at the LTA will make the right decision.

Whoever gets the wildcards will be the most deserving.

Q. Cam actually has a rib injury, so I just wanted to ask you about your rib injury. And he was saying it's difficult because you're sort of in pain on every shot basically. I was just wondering how challenging was it for you to overcome that? How did you find that?

JACOB FEARNLEY: Well, I've had it a couple of times. I had it during my last year in college, and then I started feeling it a few months ago.

I mean, you know, I feel like it sounds like he's caught it pretty early, which I think is a positive thing. I assume he hasn't got a full diagnosis yet.

Q. Rib joint.

JACOB FEARNLEY: Rib joint. Well, yeah, I'm not a doctor. Yeah, I don't really know.

For me it was honestly more painful in day-to-day life. Any time you breathe or any time you sneeze, laugh, it was really painful. Then obviously that makes it worse and worse, because you can't really avoid those things to the point where, yeah, you start feeling it on serve, forehand.

Yeah, it's not a nice injury.