Amid all the buzz surrounding the 18-year-old Brazilian tennis star, João Fonseca, perhaps, the former tennis player Todd Woodbridge was among the very few who had asked the tennis world to go slow on this youngster. In a recent interview, he said, “I think it’s going to take two years for that.” Any particular reason behind this statement? Well, he claimed that Fonseca has been lacking the ability to close out matches. Just like Woodbridge said, we saw a similar display of performance in his third-round match at Wimbledon against Nicolas Jarry. Although the Chilean got off to a flying start by securing the first two sets, Fonseca made a strong comeback in the third set. But unfortunately for the Brazilian, despite giving a tough fight in the fourth set, he had to go down by 3-6,4-6,6-3,6(4)-7.

With this win, the 29-year-old Nicolas Jarry became just the second South American in the Open Era to reach the men’s singles R16 at Wimbledon via qualifying after compatriot Ricardo Acuna (in 1985). After this match, Jarry got a bit emotional and was seen hugging his wife and son after securing the spot in the R16 of Wimbledon for the first time in his career. With this, he has now also matched the achievement of his grandfather, Jaime Fillol (reached the R16 at the 1974 Wimbledon).

Nicolas Jarry’s tennis journey has been full of ups and downs. He has shared all his struggles to cope with pressures, frustrations, and mental struggles in his documentary, Versus. But throughout his journey, his grandfather, Jaime Fillol, played a very crucial role. Talking more on this, he once admitted, “My grandpa has given me a much more experienced and wiser vision of what tennis is.” Last year, during an interview, Jarry revealed, “We would joke that we were playing indoor tennis when we were at home. Sometimes he would say: ‘OK, let’s play at Wimbledon,’ and we would go outside on the grass, put a net up and play.” He also spoke about their fond memories surrounding their visits to SW19. After this match, against Fonseca, he reflected a similar love for the tournament, but at the same time, he also spoke about his struggles.

In his on-court interview, Jarry said, “I had an issue last year with the nerve in the inner ear that affected my perception and balance, my view. I’ve been trying to come back to work on recovering that part of the body. It’s been very tough physically, emotionally, psychologically. I’ve been trying to get back to my level. Trusting myself again. It was very tough to lose all the abilities I’d been working for since I was 5 years old. It’s amazing to have my best performance here at Wimbledon. My favorite tournament of all.“

However, this isn’t the first time that we’ve seen him speaking about this issue after his match. Nicolas Jarry’s struggles with vestibular neuritis, a disorder caused by sudden inflammation of the vestibular nerve, which connects the inner ear to the brain, came to the news when he spoke about his struggles, including dizziness and difficulty in maintaining balance, after his second-round match against Learner Tien. During that time, Jarry said, “It’s impossible to play with this.“

He further added, “I’ve been trying to accept that and trying to see people to help me improve it. Right now, I’ve been able to improve some other skills that the injury takes away. So I’ve been able to level that and maximise whatever I have. Every day is a battle. Every month it’s a bit better.” According to Nicolas Jarry, this was the toughest challenge of his career. It’s nice to see him overcoming all these hurdles and slowly getting back to his rhythm on the Tour. But surprisingly, Nicolas Jarry could probably be one of the most disregarded players on the Tour, but why?

Holger Rune sparks a news controversy with his post-match comments after his match against Nicolas Jarry

American legend, John McEnroe, was a controversial figure in his playing days, starting with engaging in arguments with the umpire or heated exchanges with his opponents; he never shied away from those things. But even after his retirement, he has managed to keep his controversial tag intact. How? With his commentary! His comments have time and again stirred a bit of controversy in the tennis world. For example, two years ago, he faced heavy criticism from the fans for openly admitting that he didn’t know much about Nicolas Jarry.

Interestingly, he was then covering Jarry’s third-round match against Carlos Alcaraz. McEnroe was heard saying, “We don’t know Jarry, but we’ll get to know him.”  His statements on the Chilean didn’t go down well with John Millman, and later on, he lashed out at McEnroe, saying, “How a commentator can say ‘we don’t know Jarry but we’ll get to know him‘ is beyond ridiculous. 87 million people play tennis worldwide, and this guy is the 28th best at it currently.”

Nicolas Jarry is currently ranked 143rd in the world, and he has won three titles so far in her career. He reached his career high ranking of number 16 in May 2024. However, despite earning a reputation for being a ‘Giant-Killer’, he hasn’t yet gotten the recognition he would have wanted. Recently, he defeated the world number 8, Holger Rune, in the first round of the 2025 Wimbledon by 4-6,4-6,7-5,6-3,6-4. But after this match, Rune was heard saying, “In normal conditions, I’d beat him nine times out of ten, with all due respect to Nicolas Jarry. Obviously, I didn’t have it easy today with my knee, but yes, it wasn’t a great match.” Jarry will face Cameron Norrie in the fourth round. Can she secure a spot in the QF of the 2025 Wimbledon? Catch every key moment from the Championships as it happens.