Having seen his warp-speed rise slow down to the point of going backwards, Jacob Fearnley is facing a crisis of confidence.
The British number three is set to slip to the lower reaches of the world’s top 100 after losing in the Australian Open first round on Monday.
Falling outside of the top 100 would take away direct entry into the Grand Slam tournaments, meaning Fearnley is facing added pressure to end a disappointing run of results.
In June, the 24-year-old Scot climbed into the top 50 – having been ranked 525th just a year before – but has only won seven tour-level matches since July.
Fearnley showed signs of quality against Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak in Melbourne, but not enough as he was beaten 7-6 (7-2) 7-5 3-6 7-6 (7-3).
Afterwards, it was telling how often he brought up confidence in his post-match interviews when asked what he needed to do to turn his fortunes around.
“I need to be a little more confident, back myself a little more,” said the British Davis Cup player, who was still playing American college tennis less than two years ago.
“Over the past six or seven months I’ve been playing pretty sub-par from what I can play. I need a good run somewhere to give a bit more confidence.
“Tennis is a sport where you lose one week and the next week can be great. That’s what I’m banking on.”
Fearnley says he is not “losing sleep” about his ranking and plans to continue hitting the match court as much as possible to turn his fortunes around.
Providing an ankle injury sustained against Majchrzak heals as he expects, Fearnley will head to Bahrain next week for a tournament on the second-tier ATP Challenger Tour.
“If I have to drop down and enter a few more Challengers then I’ll happily do that,” he said.
“I’m going to keep throwing myself out there and keep believing I can win matches.”
Great Britain Davis Cup captain Leon Smith, speaking on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra:
“He had such a rapid rise, and before that he played so many matches during his college time, so you’re used to that flow of match after match.
“He went on a crazy run and got himself out of the Futures tour into the Challengers tour and the main tour so quickly.
“Then you suddenly start losing more – you might win one and lose one, when you might be used to winning three and losing one. It completely changes your feeling and he just needs to get that back.
“There’s a good chance he drops out of the top 100 but I’ve got no concerns. I think he’s that good, he’s got the skillset and I’ve seen him beat really high-level players. He’ll get there, he just needs to now play matches.”
