Nicolas Jarry will be bidding to reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final when he takes on Britain's Cameron Norrie at Wimbledon on Sunday. The Chilean star has had a stop-start career, dropping down the rankings after suffering a nerve disorder and, most notably, serving an 11-month doping suspension.
Jarry tested positive for two banned substances at the end of 2019 and was slapped with a ban in 2020 before having his name cleared when he proved he was contaminated. The ITF ruled that he "bore no significant fault or negligence" and his suspension was backdated, allowing him to return in November of that year. But by then, he had already been wiped out of the rankings.
Most of the Chilean's suspension coincided with the Covid pandemic, which saw the tennis tours shut down for six months. While other players returned to competition in August, Jarry had to wait three more months, by which time he had zero ranking points and had to start from scratch.
The 29-year-old was forced to grind it out on the Challenger Tour and use wildcards to enter tournaments as he attempted to rebuild his ranking, which had peaked at No. 38 a few months before he was banned.
Jarry got a wildcard into the Lima Open in late November but lost his first match. His comeback started to gain steam in 2021 when he won some ATP matches as a wildcard, then lifted Challenger titles in Salinas and Lima.
The current world No. 143 finally enjoyed a huge resurgence in 2023. He qualified for the Australian Open and stormed into the Rio semi-final, losing to Carlos Alcaraz.
Jarry lifted the trophy at his home tournament in Santiago a few weeks later - an event run by his grandfather, former world No. 14 Jaime Fillol, and their family.
Since then, Jarry has won another title in Geneva, upset top players like Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas, reached his first Masters 1000 final in Rome, and peaked at No. 16 in the world.
But the 29-year-old has struggled for form in recent months and dropped outside of the world's top 100. He has since revealed that he was playing through Vestibular neuritis, a disorder caused by sudden inflammation of the nerve that connects the inner ear to the brain.
He was forced to go through qualifying to reach the main draw at Wimbledon and stunned No. 8 seed Holger Rune in the first round, coming from two sets down to win in five.
After beating Joao Fonseca to book his spot in the second week, an emotional Jarry embraced his wife and brought their three-year-old son onto the court before telling the crowd: "It has been one year of battles, it's amazing.
"I had an issue last year, with a nerve in the ear that affected my perception, my balance and my view. I have been trying to come back to work and recovering that part of the body."
It's been another impressive comeback from Jarry. He's now matched his grandfather's best result here, achieved 51 years ago, and will hope to break British hearts when he meets Norrie in round four.
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