Fearnley on Steph Curry, the underdog mentality, Zverev test & more

Jacob Fearnley will try to earn the biggest win of his career on Saturday when he takes on Alexander Zverev in the second round of the Miami Open presented by Itau. It is just two months since the pair’s first Lexus ATP Head2Head clash at the Australian Open, where Zverev triumphed in straight sets.

“I am super happy to get to play him again. Played him in Australia, and I thought I played a decent match,” Fearnley said. “He was just a little bit too good for me. And to get another go at him is really cool. It's not often you get to play someone like Zverev in such close succession.

“It’s going to be another great learning experience. I'm going to give it 100 per cent and hopefully I can do well, but I'm aware that he's number two in the world, number one seed, and it's going to be an extremely, extremely difficult match.”

Before the clash, Fearnley spoke to ATPTour.com about his life off the court, his longtime friend and recent Indian Wells champion Jack Draper, and more.

If you would to go to dinner with any three people, who would they be and why?
I would [go] with Stephen Curry. He's my idol. Michael Jordan, because of The Last Dance. And I want to say Nadal, but… I'll say Djokovic.

Who was your favourite tennis player?
Always Nadal. I liked him a lot. But I had to sort of move towards Andy [Murray] and Novak [Djokovic], because Nadal is lefty, so I couldn't really play like him. So probably Novak and Andy. Andy, because he was British. Rafa when I was younger, I wanted to be like Rafa.

Why?
I just liked the way he competed, the way he fought, the way he went about things — just purely business. I liked the stuff he wore, it was a bit different. [There] always were bright colours, the baggy shorts and he would wear the sleeveless [shirts].

Why Stephen Curry?
It’s an interesting one. But I feel like, one, he's unbelievable. And since I came over to the States for college, I've gotten into basketball, and my girlfriend's family is a huge basketball family, so I started following it. And then I started watching him, and I just thought it was incredible, because, some would say he's a little bit undersized. But he's completely held his own in the NBA and become one of the greatest ever. I think that's extremely admirable. I respect the way he is as a person, and also his game a lot.

I've always kind of been a bit of an underdog. And I feel maybe that's the way he was before he went into the league… because everyone was saying he was too small, he has bad ankles, whatever. And he proved everyone wrong. And I think that's a really cool attitude to have. To have a little chip on your shoulder, I think it brings out the best in people, and I try and do the same.

If you could be anyone else for a day, who would it be?
An NBA player because I think their lives are sick. Obviously, I don't know, but that's what it seems like. So, I would probably go Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He’s also very cool, so I’d say someone like him, who's probably going to be MVP.

What’s your favourite food?
Can't go wrong with pasta. Honestly, it's an interesting one. Eggs you can have on everything. Like anything important, you can have an egg on it, eggs for breakfast. You can chuck an egg on a stir fry. You can chuck an egg even on pasta sometimes. You can chuck an egg on anything, on a chicken, on a steak. So, I'd say eggs.

Do you cook a little bit?
I used to. When I had a kitchen in college, I used to cook, me and my roommate, Luc Fomba, we would always cook pesto pasta with some chicken, season it up nice, throw an egg on top. He would always add ketchup, which I thought was terrible. But I would never, and I would have pesto pasta, cook stir fry with noodles…. And probably that's as far as my cooking goes.

What is your perfect day without tennis?
Wake up late, have brunch. Go for a walk and nice coffee. Go have brunch, spend time with friends, girlfriend, A very chill day. Go for a lot of walks. I'd love to have a dog. If I had a dog, that day off would be cool, because I don't have a dog right now. But if I did have a dog in the future, my ideal day off would be spend time with the dog, go to the beach and just have a very chill day.

You have known Jack Draper for quite a long time. How cool and maybe even inspiring was his win at Indian Wells for you?
It was amazing. It's funny, when he won, they showed pictures of when he was like 11. I was at those events when he was 11. He always had big, massive feet. I was remembering. I knew he was going to be tall because his dad was tall and he had massive feet, and I remember it so well. It’s really cool to see him doing so well.

He's put an insane amount of hard work in. I've seen it up front, and also hearing just the way that everyone reacted to his win. He deserved it, because he was always coming. He's improved so much over the last year or so. It’s great for British tennis. Whenever a Brit like that gets a massive achievement like that, it's unbelievable for British tennis, and unbelievable for me and for others who are aspiring to be like him.