Jack Draper leads rare British charge at Roland Garros... but beware the brilliant boy from Brazil!

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

John McEnroe may not be the most measured of analysts but his words carry the weight of a seven-time Grand Slam champion.
So when the 66-year-old TNT Sports pundit says of Jack Draper: 'I'd be surprised if he doesn't win multiple majors,' and adds of Joao Fonseca: 'I can't believe how good this guy is already,' that gives you a sense of the level of expectation around the pair's third-round meeting in the French Open on Saturday.
If the excitement around that match-up is global, there is more parochial interest in seeing Jacob Fearnley face Cam Norrie — the first time in the Open Era two British players of either sex have met here past the opening round.
It all adds up to a Super Saturday for British tennis, at a stage of this tournament in Paris when we are more used to licking our wounds and despairing over our national lack of clay-court nous. Or, in a best-case scenario, watching Andy Murray plough a lone furrow.
To Draper first, and a match-up we assume will be repeated many times in the careers of these two young men. Unusually, the hype around Fonseca is based not upon the 18-year-old's results — he is yet to crack the top 50 and this is the first time he has won more than one match at a Grand Slam — but the old-fashioned eye test. And ear test.
He just looks so good. He sounds so good — the crushing report of both his enormous forehand and the calm maturity with which he conducts himself in interviews.
An indication of how gaga the sport is going about him came in Rafael Nadal's farewell press conference. Out of 20 questions, 19 were about Rafael Nadal. The 20th was, simply: 'What do you think of Joao Fonseca?'
The Spaniard, a little surprised, replied: 'He has a great future in front of him. I wish him all the very best. I met him a couple of times. Seems like he has a very good interaction with his family and people next to him.'
This will be Draper's second meeting with the new kid on the block, after he took care of him in Indian Wells en route to the title.
'I'm going to be playing him a lot,' said Draper of their prospective rivalry. 'We'll be seeing him a lot in the back end of draws.
'Everyone can see his potential. Very powerful, very dynamic, very explosive. And that's what has drawn a lot of people to watch him.
'The huge fan base he brings from Brazil, that's great for the sport as well. I'll be playing him for many years to come and I look forward to that challenge.'
When Fonseca is on an unticketed court, the lines to get in are longer than I have ever seen in this sport. But that will not be the case for the Draper match, which will be played in the Suzanne Lenglen stadium, meaning the stands should be less packed with hollering Brazilians than the outside courts where the teenager won his first two rounds.
Draper has already had a taste of the passion of Fonseca's fans. In Miami, he was playing Jakub Mensik with Fonseca next on court when it was announced that, due to a gap in the schedule, the wonderkid's match would be moved to the main stadium.
Draper's match had to be paused while fans who had been waiting all day to watch Fonseca streamed out, making their wrath heard as they went.
'The Miami Open got that one wrong,' said Draper. 'I thought the crowd were all there to watch me but when I rocked up and they chanted "Joao Fonseca", I realised maybe they're not. It's incredible what he brings to the sport. And he deserves it as well, because he is going to be right at the top of the game.'
Tennis has few genuine chants — 'Let's go (insert name) let's go' doesn't count — but the boom of 'Jo-a-o Fon-SEEE-ca' will echo around Roland Garros's second court on Saturday.
Last up on the Simonne Mathieu stadium, set amidst a botanic garden, is Norrie vs Fearnley — a Texan tussle as well as a Scottish scrap. Both men are ex-Horned Frogs, having played college tennis for Texas Christian University (TCU).
'I just missed him,' said Norrie, 29, of Fearnley, who only graduated last May. 'It's amazing to see his development. A really complete game already and he's blazed through the Challengers, close to top 50. It's nice to have another Brit come to TCU and follow in my footsteps, but he did everything much quicker and he has looked really impressive.'
Despite their college careers never coinciding these two know each other well. In his early years on tour Norrie used TCU as a training base and hit with Fearnley, 23, and his then team-mate, now coach Juan Martin.
A deep relationship is developing between the Texas college and British tennis. Jack Pinnington Jones, 22, is a recent graduate trying to make his way on tour, and Lui Maxted, 21, from Worthing, is there at the moment.