Emotional Nicolas Jarry reaches Wimbledon week two after battling vestibular neuritis for over a year

Before Wimbledon, Nicolas Jarry's season was trending in the wrong direction.

Having started 2025 with a pair of wins in Brisbane, the Chilean soon endured a 4-13 record at the tour level— including going 3-9 across his two clay-court swings in South America and Europe.

The downward spiral wasn't simply the result of lacking confidence. For more than a year, Jarry had been grappling with the effects of vestibular neuritis. An inner ear disorder, the condition can cause dizziness, vertigo and a loss of balance resulting from inflammation of the nerve connecting the area to the brain.

Speaking with BBC 5 Live Sport earlier this week, Jarry detailed how the ear issue first emerged during last year's run to the Rome final and later impacted his vision after returning home from Roland Garros.

“The second day I arrived there, I woke up and I couldn’t open my eyes because everything was rolling so much. I remember I was just trying to type in my phone and I couldn’t,” he recalled. “I started crying immediately.”

As Jarry tried to work through his new reality, results were understandbly hard to come by. After losing the bulk of his 2024 Internazionali BNL d'Italia points in May, the 29-year-old dropped as low as No. 150 by early June. If Jarry wanted to compete at the All England Club, he would forced to earn his way through the qualifying stages at Roehampton.

Acceptance has been an important part of staying the course. Continuous competition, as it turns out, is helping him get back on track as well.

“They told me that ping pong or tennis, sports that you need movement, vision, attention, it’s the best rehab. But it hasn’t taken three weeks, it’s been more than a year,” he said.

The family’s been the key pillar of this last year. Without them, I wasn’t going to be able to recover as fast as I did.

The Santiago native dug in to reach the main draw—and in an extended run boosted by a two-set comeback against eighth seed Holger Rune—has now equaled his best career performance at a Grand Slam event (2023 French Open).

On Friday, Jarry secured a 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (4) victory over 18-year-old Joao Fonseca on Court 2. In addition to clinching a Top 100 return, the former world No. 16 notably matched the fourth-round showing his grandfather Jaime Fillol achieved 51 years earlier.

“I came here with him when I was 10 years old and 11. Since then, I'm in love with this tournament,” Jarry reflected in his press conference. “Every match that I win here makes me stay a couple more days in the tournament, and that makes me very happy.”

Facing Fonseca for the first time, Jarry used every inch of his six-foot-seven frame to his advantage. The qualifier fired 25 aces and saved 10 of the 11 break points against his serve to get through after three hours and eight minutes.

Soaking it all in, Jarry went over to embrace wife Laura and son Juan. The eldest of the couple’s two boys soon joined him for a front-row seat to an on-court interview where Jarry paid tribute to his loved ones.

“The family’s been the key pillar of this last year. Without them, I wasn’t going to be able to recover as fast as I did. It was a long year and I’m here,” he told the crowd.

Expanding on his state of mind in press, Jarry said, “It was a very difficult fourth set. So when I finish, everything came through, and it was pure, pure joy. I think just a lot of emotion that has been building up inside of me this last year that I was able to just release and enjoy the moment.”

Fillol’s deepest run in a major was a quarterfinal effort at the 1975 US Open. Jarry will aim to join his grandpa in the Final 8 club when he takes on Cameron Norrie on Sunday.