Jacob Fearnley says what ‘everyone’ thought of Jack Draper when he was a teenager as he outlines what their relationship is like

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Jacob Fearnley and Jack Draper have both reached the third round of the Australian Open for the first time in their respective careers.

Fearnley beat Nick Kyrgios at the Australian Open in his first ever match at the tournament, and has followed it up with a win over Arthur Cazaux after coming from a set down.

The Brit was ranked outside the top 600 last year, before Fearnley played Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon and took a set off the 24-time major winner.

Since then, Fearnley has continued his rise after leaving US college and broke inside the top 100 to make his Australian Open debut.

This enabled him to be part of history, with Fearnley one of six Brits in the Australian Open second round.

Jacob Fearnley reveals what everyone thought of Jack Draper as a teenager

When Fearnley broke into the top 100 last year, Draper posted a picture of them on social media together when they were younger to congratulate his compatriot.

This post was accompanied by a caption mentioning how they had been on different paths, with Draper already inside the top 20 after reaching the US Open semi-finals and winning two ATP titles in 2024.

With both players being born in 2001, they grew up together and Fearnley was asked in his post-match press conference about whether Draper was always destined to achieve great things.

“For sure, everyone knew he was an insane talent,” said Fearnley. “Yeah, obviously. Since he was probably the age – I don’t even know – 14, 15 you were hearing he was doing great results in the juniors.

“Then was transitioning really well to the pro tour. Obviously now he’s 14 in the world or something like that. He’s doing exceptional. I don’t think it comes as any surprise to anyone how well he’s doing, for sure.”

Who won the first match between Jacob Fearnley and Jack Draper?

With Fearnley only just breaking onto the main ATP Tour, he has not yet played a professional match against Draper.

However, they have competed against one another growing up, including a first meeting on green clay that Fearnley detailed.

“I think we were around about 10 maybe. I remember we played, like, in Gosling on, like, a green clay in a bubble kind of in Gosling, and we played there for the first time,” continued Fearnley. “Maybe it was green ball, or maybe it was just transitioning into yellow ball. I remember that match, actually.

“We traveled a lot, and we did play some cool matches, under 12, under 14, and then kind of got a little bit — he kind of went, like, way higher than me. I went the college path. He kind of shot up, and then I went a different direction. We still kept in touch on the odd occasion, so yeah.”

Draper has the greater career accomplishments so far, but Fearnley revealed that it was actually he who won that first match.

“I think I did. I think I did,” answered the Scot. “I can’t remember the score, but I’m pretty sure I did because I think I remember his dad saying to my mom that he was going to make sure he got some clay court lessons after the match (smiling). So I remember it, yeah.”

After Draper fought back to beat Thanasi Kokkinakis, he moves onto play Aleksandar Vukic in the third round of the Australian Open, while Fearnley will play second seed Alexander Zverev.