Fearnley, Pinnington Awarded Wild Cards into Wimbledon – TCU Athletics

FORT WORTH – TCU has a reservation for three at the All England Club.
 
Jake Fearnley and Jack Pinnington were awarded singles and doubles wild cards for The Championships, Wimbledon 2024.
 
Fearnley received a wild card onto the gentlemen’s singles main draw while Pinnington pocketed a qualifying singles wild card. Fearnley and Pinnington, just weeks removed from leading TCU to its first NCAA Championship, also garnered a wild card into the gentlemen’s doubles main draw. They join world No. 39 Cam Norrie, who received direct entry in singles, as confirmed Horned Frog competitors.

Fearnley is making his second straight appearance at the sport’s most prestigious Grand Slam. He earned a wild card into the main doubles draw in 2023 ahead of his senior season in Fort Worth. Fearnley achieved the feat after winning the Rothesay Open Nottingham doubles championship.

Pinnington, a rising junior, joins Fearnley as two of three active players in program history to compete at Wimbledon.

Fearnley and Pinnington staked their claim to a ticket to London behind a pair of breakthrough performances at the ATP Challenger Nottingham.

 

Fearnley, competing in just his second ATP Tour singles main draw, won seven consecutive matches to claim the Rothesay Open Nottingham men’s singles championship on Sunday. After playing his way out of qualifying, Fearnley’s dream run was ignited by a trio of triumphs over ATP top-200 opponents, including No. 96 Shang Juncheng (7-5, 7-5) and No. 160 Mattia Bellucci (6-3, 6-1), respectively, in the quarterfinals and semifinals. Fearnley bettered former Baylor Bear Charles Broom, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, in the final on his way to joining Andy Murray as one of four Brits to hoist the Ross Hutchins Trophy. 

 

He broke into the top-300 in the world following Sunday’s triumph. Fearnley nearly halved his ranking, ascending 251 spots to a career-high No. 274. 

 

Like Fearnley, Pinnington came through qualifying and won two main draw matches to reach the final eight. Although he fell to Bellucci in the quarterfinals, nixing an all-TCU semifinal, Pinnington earned arguably the most noteworthy win of any player in the 32-man bracket.

 

Not only did Pinnington realize TCU’s shared goal of placing players alongside Norrie in the main draw, he found himself matched up with the British No. 1 in the round of 16. After dropping the opening frame 1-6, Pinnington took sets two and three via 6-4 margins and back from an 0-2, 0-40 deficit in the decider to secure a landmark win. Norrie represented the first top-50 player Pinnington has defeated. 

 

Fearnley and Pinnington’s wild cards mark the second straight season that the Horned Frogs’ main draw representation at Wimbledon is threefold. Norrie was tabbed the No. 12 overall seed in singles in 2023. Fearnley picked up an opening round victory in doubles, defeating Andre Goransson and Ben McLachlan, 1-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4. He then narrowly fell to Matthew Ebden and Rohan Bopanna, the top-ranked doubles tandem on the ATP Tour, in the second round. Norrie and Fearnley were joined by Reese Stalder, who won two main draw doubles matches and reached the round of 16 in his Wimbledon debut. 

 

TCU will place a program record four players on the Wimbledon main draw should Stalder, No. 82 in the ATP rankings, crack the doubles bracket.

 

Qualifying singles action takes place from June 24-27 with the draw set to be unveiled on June 28. The Championships run from July 1-14.

 

All Wimbledon matches will air on ESPN and ESPN+ across the United States and on Sky Sports in Great Britain.