Nicolas Jarry Digging Deep For Each Wimbledon Victory

Nicolas Jarry
Nicolas Jarry (photo: Wimbledon video)

WIMBLEDON/WASHINGTON, July 6, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

Chile’s Nicolas Jarry is through to the fourth round of the Wimbledon Championships for the first time – and he’s thrilled just to be able to play the sport he loves, again.

After the 6-foot-7-inch, 29-year-old from Santiago rolled back the years on Friday with his thrilling 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (4) victory over 54th-ranked Brazilian teenager Joao Fonseca that stretched over three hours on a jam-packed No. 2 Court, Jarry walked over to where his wife, Laura, and three-year-old son, Juan, were seated along with his team and shared a lengthy, heartfelt family embrace. The emotions were overflowing; Jarry was visibly sobbing on his wife’s shoulder. After all, Jarry could not believe that he had just reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon – a plateau he had never achieved before now.

Soon, Jarry composed himself and brought Juan on the court. He sat him down on his bench beside his racquet bag. The Chilean gave his son the yellow tennis ball that won him the third-round match against Fonseca while he stepped aside momentarily to do an on-court interview with pundit Jenny Drummond.

It was during the on-court interview with Drummond that Jarry opened up for everyone to learn about a nerve disorder in his ear. It’s called vestibular neuritis and it is caused by the sudden inflammation of the vestibular nerve, which connects the inner ear to the brain. While vestibular neuritis is often attributed to a viral infection, Jarry’s symptoms have included the sudden onset of vertigo, dizziness and difficulty maintaining balance.

“It’s been one year of battle, so it’s amazing,” Jarry said, choking back the tears welling in his eyes. “I had an issue last year with a nerve in the inner ear. It affected my perception, my balance, my view and I’ve been trying to come back, to work on recovering that part of the body.”

While any of Jarry’s symptoms would be cause for alarm, it’s easy to see why it made it impossible for him to be able to continue playing competitive tennis. His ranking dropped from a career-high No. 16 in May of 2024 to No. 143 this week at Wimbledon. Until recently, Jarry’s on-court wins have been few and far between. In all competitions this season, he’s 16-16, following a disappointing 19-24 a year ago, in which he reached finals in Buenos Aires and Rome. By comparison, in 2023, Jarry finished the year ranked 19th and compiled an impressive 43-22 win-loss record, which included winning two titles – at Santiago and Geneva.

“It’s been very tough physically, emotionally, psychologically. I’ve been trying to get back to my level, trusting myself again,” Jarry said. “Because it was very tough to lose all the abilities that I’ve been working on since I was five years old. So, it’s amazing to have my best performance here in Wimbledon – it’s my favorite tournament of all.”

After losing in six consecutive Grand Slam first rounds, something different happened when Jarry arrived at Wimbledon. He came through three rounds of qualifying last week at Roehampton with three straight wins. Then, in the main draw, Jarry came from two sets down to stun No. 8 seed Holger Rune in the first round, followed by a straight-set win over No. 62 Learner Tien of the United States. It set up a first-time meeting with his fellow South American, Fonseca, who pushed Jarry hard. By the end, though, there was a warm exchange at the net between the two proud competitors.

With his latest victory, Jarry is the sixth Chilean man to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon, including his own grandfather, Jaime Fillol, who made it to the round of 16 in 1974.

“The family – it’s been the key of this last year,” Jarry admitted during his on-court interview. “To be South American, to be two months, three months away from home, it’s very tough. You get very lonely, lonelier than what tennis is already. 

“So, to have them, it’s been amazing since I got married with my wife. Without them, I wasn’t going to be able to recover as fast as I did. It was a long year but I’m here.”

On Sunday, Jarry will be back on court, this time on No. 1 Court – the second-biggest show court at the All England Club – against British No. 3 and 61st-ranked Cameron Norrie, who has strung together a trio of first-week wins over No. 42 Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain, No. 12 seed Frances Tiafoe of the United States and 73rd-ranked Mattia Bellucci of Italy. It will be their second tour-level meeting but their first at a Grand Slam or on grass – and their first at any level in more than six years. It’s the first time Jarry is facing a British player at Wimbledon.

Jarry’s remarkable resurgence is showing that he’s learning how to effectively deal with the matter of his condition. He’s spent a lot of time off the court in personal reflection.

“Everything that I’ve learned on my journey [has helped me],” Jarry said in a separate interview with the ATP Tour website. “It’s talking, it’s focusing on the right thing. It’s working hard. It’s accepting. It’s praying. 

“It’s everything that I know and that everybody knows works in a way and trying to stick with it and have faith.” 

Jarry’s is a remarkable comeback tale that is still being written – one match at a time.

Around the All England Club

Two-time defending Wimbledon champion and No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz and No. 14 seed Andrey Rublev, who face each other in the third match on Centre Court Sunday, will contest the first meeting between Top 20 players in men’s singles at Wimbledon this year. Alcaraz is looking to extend a seven-match winning streak against Top-20 opponents at tour-level. Alcaraz has won 17 straight matches at Wimbledon dating back to the start of the 2023 event.

Rublev has lost all 10 of his previous matches against Top-5 players at the Grand Slams. However, if he should prevail, Rublev would become just the seventh active male player to reach the quarterfinals of all four Grand Slam tournaments on multiple occasions – following Alcaraz, Marin Cilic, Novak Djokovic, Kei Nishikori, Jannik Sinner and Stan Wawrinka.

Saturday’s Wimbledon results

Sunday’s Wimbledon order of play

By the numbers

If Cameron Norrie, the last British man standing at Wimbledon this year, defeats Nicolas Jarry on Sunday, he will become just the fourth British man in the Open Era to reach the quarterfinals at Wimbledon on multiple occasions.

Should Norrie and compatriot Sonay Kartal, who faces Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the women’s singles round of 16 Sunday, both reach the quarterfinals, it would be the first time that multiple British players have reached the last eight at a Grand Slam since 2017 at Wimbledon, when Andy Murray and Johanna Konta both reached the quarterfinals.

Jarry, meanwhile, will be bidding to record his seventh consecutive victory – after achieving three wins in qualifying last week. Should Jarry beat Norrie, he would become the sixth qualifier in the Open Era to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals – and first since Bernard Tomic in 2011.

“Quotable …”

“It’s something I dream a lot, since I started to play tennis. Especially here, it’s fantastic to reach the fourth round here. I played one of the best matches of my life. Almost perfect. I’m really happy to play on this surface because it makes me happy.”

– No. 22 seed Flavio Cobolli of Italy, during his post-match news conference Saturday, after defeating No. 15 seed Jakub Mensik of Czechia, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.

 

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