Cryptic crossword clue
I got stuck into rising tennis star, one likely to get seeded; failed horribly 4,2,3

The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 2 plus 3 letter word LAID AN EGG

I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
L
A
I
D
A
N
E
G
G

Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "failed horribly" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case failed horribly = laid an egg.
The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.
This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.

Crossword Answer definitions

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