Jack Draper must learn to play with a target on his back as Wimbledon looms

Yahoo

2 days ago

Alexander Bublik reacted to the most significant victory of his career by collapsing onto the Parisian soil with his arms aloft, his face transmitting both joy and disbelief. Although his jubilation was an apt reaction to finally breaking new ground by reaching his first grand slam quarter-final at Roland Garros, it also said much about his beaten opponent across the net.
Jack Draper's rise over the past 12 months has been one of the most significant developments on the ATP Tour. As he has established himself as one of the best players in the world and earned respect within the locker room, the target on his back has grown accordingly. Now ranked No 5, Draper is one of the elite opponents that other players look to measure themselves against. When they face him, they will try to swing freely and use the occasion to take their games to levels they normally cannot sustain. As was the case with Bublik, this will sometimes work.
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One of the great challenges of being a top player is learning how to hold off the bloodthirsty masses, to find a way through tough matches by making life difficult for those opponents and seizing the most important points. Draper is still new to these situations; this is his second grand slam tournament as a top 20 player and his first inside the top five. A year ago, he could barely trust his body in matches over five sets. Facing more of these experiences will teach him how to overcome them.
Despite his own disappointment, Draper ends his clay season having made transformative progress on the surface, which he previously had minimal experience on. Less than two months ago, in his third round defeat to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina the Monte Carlo Masters, the British No 1 was still struggling badly with his movement on the surface and his confidence was shot. His growth since then is reflected in his results as he reached his first clay-court final at the Madrid Open, a Masters 1000 event, before following it up with a quarter-final in Rome. He arrived in Paris seeking his first match win at Roland Garros and finished the tournament in the second week. He could still reach a new career high world ranking of No 4 on Monday.
While some players tend to handle defeats better with age, Draper says that his losses are more painful now than ever before. Now that he knows what he is capable of, falling short of his lofty goals hurts even more. On Monday night, in the hours after his defeat to Bublik, he looked utterly crushed. Not only did he miss a big opportunity to build a deeper run in Paris, Draper squandered the chance to test himself against Jannik Sinner, the best player in the world, in the quarter-finals.
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One of Draper's most admirable qualities, however, is the perspective he maintains in difficult moments. Even as he processed a crushing defeat, he was still able to recognise how it could propel him forward. Since he has arrived on the professional circuit, navigating physical issues, anxiety and doubt, few things have come easily for him. This is no different.
'It's a really, really tough loss to take for me,' he said. 'My journey, even though I've come up quickly this year, I've got myself to a high ranking, it's always been a steep learning curve for me. There's always been a lot of adversity, a lot of injuries, a lot of setbacks. This is another one of those tough matches. I'll learn from it and I'll get better, and I'll use it to my advantage.'
In a few days, once Draper has finished stewing over this loss, he will shift his sights on the coming storm. Until now, he has had the benefit of developing his game and building his career in the shadows. While British athletes are often burdened by hype and expectations, Draper is still somewhat under the radar. He has earned immense respect within the tennis world, and there is a consensus that he is a genuine contender at the biggest events, but his profile at home still does not match his growing list of achievements.
This will surely change when he heads to Wimbledon as one of the best players in the world and on grass, a surface that perfectly suits his game, he will be a top contender. This will be Draper's first experience of the attention and scrutiny that comes with his new lofty status. How he handles those challenges on his homecoming will be fascinating and instructive.