Even as Jack Draper began to digest his desperate first-round loss at the French Open in his press conference three weeks ago, he still managed to pair his hurt and frustration with some impressive perspective. Draper recognised that he was in the midst of a significant retooling of his game and this was the moment to continue trusting in his work.
Things can change so quickly in tennis and since that miserable moment, Draper has not lost another match. On Thursday he continued this spectacular breakthrough run by pulling off by far the best win of his life, defeating Carlos Alcaraz, the top seed and defending champion, 7-6 (3), 6-3 in the second round at Queen’s.
At a time when Andy Murray’s career seems to be in its final stretch, the next leading British men’s player is finally making noise at the top of the game. Draper is, incredibly, the first British man to clinch a top-two win on grass since Murray defeated Novak Djokovic in the 2013 Wimbledon final. He is also the first British man to beat the top seed at Queen’s in 52 years.
“Even though it’s come together in the last sort of two weeks, this is not overnight,” he said.
“This is years of doing it. So, really happy with how it’s come together the last couple of weeks, as you said, especially at this time on the grass in front of home crowds, and hopefully I can carry on this momentum and keep on building.”
Last week, Draper clinched his first ATP title in Stuttgart by defeating Matteo Berrettini, the 2021 Wimbledon finalist, in his third final. Despite immediately rushing back to London for his home tournament, he has carried the momentum forward. As he faced off against the reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion, he was fully aware that he had a great opportunity. While Alcaraz proved his quality on grass last year, this was just his second match on grass in 2024 and he was still finding his feet on the surface again.
As in recent weeks, Draper’s determination to attack and dictate against opponents continues to pay off. He served brilliantly from the beginning, rolling through his service games with ease as they reached a first set tie-break. With the set on the line, Draper was the player willing to attack in neutral rallies, take returns early and to close down the net whenever possible as he quickly built a 6-1 lead. Alcaraz was far from poor, but his uncertainty was punished.
With the first set secured, Draper opened up his shoulders and played freely. He broke serve with another explosion of aggressive tennis, punching away a forehand volley to set up break point and then snapping a backhand return winner to break serve. Under pressure in his final two service games, Draper made an incredible backhand half-volley winner to save a break point at 4-2 and then he rallied from 0-30 down in the final service game with excellent serving to close out an incredible win.
after newsletter promotion
Draper has now risen into the top 30 of the live rankings and he is likely to be seeded at Wimbledon. Most importantly, though, he has another match to play and a chance to make an even bigger mark at Queen’s, a tournament he attended as a child. He will face Tommy Paul, the fifth seed, on Friday for a place in the semi-finals.
“I’m not going to get too high on this win,” Draper said. “Obviously it’s nice to reflect on things when you’re done with the week and the wins you have had, but my main priority right now is to make sure I’m doing everything I can to be best prepared for tomorrow, because everyone at this level, if you’re not quite on your game, they can beat you.”
Source: theguardian.com
