Latest news with #VitKopriva
Independent Singapore
12-05-2025
- Sport
- Independent Singapore
Jack Draper smashes racquet, then goes on to win and reach Italian Open last 16
ITALY: Jack Draper admitted he let his frustration and emotions show during a fierce match against world No. 92 Vit Kopriva in the third round of the Italian Open. Despite the Briton winning with a final scoreline of 6-4, 6-3 in Rome and earning a spot in the last 16, Draper lost his temper midway through the second set. While leading 3-1 and with a chance to break serve again, the athlete missed four break points, smashed his racquet several times into the clay, and then angrily threw it down next to his seat. With this, Draper told Sky Sports: ' I'm human, we don't always wake up feeling great.' He added: 'I get out of bed, and I feel so angry some days, but I've got to play a tennis match, and I've got to go through those ups and downs too… I've played a lot of tennis and lots of matches, and I'm getting used to that, my ranking is going up, and I'm getting to compete week in, week out, and it's taking some getting used to from a mental and physical perspective.' 'I want to keep going, but sometimes it's difficult to always be perfect. The more I'm playing, the more my confidence is building.' Highlights of the match Draper had a tough challenge against Vit Kopriva, whom he deemed an 'unknown player'. Kopriva was playing in his ATP 1000 event debut and had never gone this far in the competition. Draper's solid serving helped him win the first set 6-4. Moreover, Draper broke Kopriva's serve to go ahead 4-3. There were only three break points in the whole set, and Draper took advantage of his opportunity. Kopriva got a chance when Draper served for the set, but Draper stayed calm and finished it off to take the lead. After losing his temper and smashing his racquet, Draper won three of the next four games and sealed the win with a third break of serve in the match. Draper expressed: 'It was a tough match, especially against a guy who is a bit unknown, but he's won a lot of matches here… I felt a bit low on energy, my feet weren't working as well as I wanted them to, but I tried to fight hard and find a way.' 'The frustration boiled out a bit too much in the end, but I stayed at it and came through,' he added. In a social media post, Draper shared: '💯 on the board' Netizens commented on the post and said: 'Keep strong. You have lots of support', 'Congratulations, Big Man! Keep pushing! ❤️', and 'Great fight Jack👏👏👏We, all huge fan of you are proud of you very much🙌🙌🙌Let's go Jack🔥🔥🔥❤️❤️❤️' Moving forward in the tournament, Draper will now face Frenchman Corentin Moutet, who earned his first-ever top 10 win by defeating ninth seed Holger Rune in three sets.
Daily Mail
11-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Jack Draper SMASHES racket in Italian Open fourth round victory - as 'fiery' Brit admits he let his frustrations 'boil over'
Jack Draper woke up on the wrong side of the bed in Rome on Sunday morning. He racked up 37 unforced errors against Vit Kopriva and smashed his racket in rage and frustration. But he did what he almost invariably does these days: he won; and it was not especially close. The 23-year-old was about as far from his best as the Supertennis Arena is from the centre court of the vast Foro Italico, but he moved into the fourth round of the Italian Open with a 6-4, 6-3 victory. Draper's improvement is such that, in these first few rounds at least, his B or C game is enough. 'I don't condone smashing rackets but if you're gonna do it you might as well do it properly,' said Draper. 'I usually try to stay pretty calm but I'm a fiery, feisty competitor and that can boil over,' he said. 'Sometimes I feel like I need to lay out some frustration. 'I didn't sleep that great last night but it's normal for people to wake up not feeling great and to have to keep on going, especially in this sport.' There is a sense that it will take something out of the ordinary to beat Draper at the moment - and few players are less ordinary than his next opponent, Corentin Moutet. The Brit smashed the clay four times with his racket after sending a drop shot into the net The maverick Frenchman reached the fourth round with a mammoth 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 upset of No9 seed Holger Rune. It was the best match of the tournament so far and, at three hours and 46 minutes, the longest three-set match of the year. The 26-year-old has the words 'Chaos makes the muse' tattooed on the back of his neck and that could not be more apt. Pasta is to Rome as controversy is to Moutet. He was deducted a game by the umpire after refusing to play until a certain spectator was ejected and was invited outside for a fight by Alexander Bublik - and that was just in March. In 2022 he was defaulted for swearing at the umpire and last year, more harmlessly, demanded a coffee and when none was forthcoming from the officials, was given one by a member of the crowd. His chaotic nature is reflected in his play, too: Draper should expect a discombobulating mix of spins, drop shots and underarm serves. Like Draper, Moutet is left handed so that adds an extra element of unfamiliarity. World No83 he may be but Moutet is a dangerous opponent when dialled in - as he certainly was in defeating Rune. Draper will likely have to play a deal better than he did against Kopriva to reach the quarter-finals. 'I enjoy that,' said Draper of Moutet's theatrics. 'They love him here, he brings a really good energy to the court. He's fiery and very talented.' The second-round defeat of Taylor Fritz has opened up the possibility of Draper moving into the world's top four. A place in the semi-finals would be enough for him to leapfrog the American and secure the No4 seeding at the French Open.
BBC News
11-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Draper smashes racquet during hard-fought Rome win
Great Britain's Jack Draper beat Vit Kopriva to reach the last 16 of the Italian Open but his frustration boiled over during a straight-set the fifth seed won 6-4 6-3 in Rome, he was made to work hard to close out the victory and at one point hit the court multiple times with his who came into the tournament on the back of reaching the Madrid Open final, held serve throughout and took the first set in 41 minutes, saving one break it was by no means plain sailing in the second as Czech qualifier Kopriva saved four break points to cut his deficit to Draper gave him the game by sending a drop shot into the net, he struck the clay four times with his racquet before slamming it on to the floor by his 23-year-old left three divots in the centre of the court - and his racquet in tatters - and received a warning from the went 40-0 up in the following game but the world number 92 spurned the chance to break back as he sent a straightforward backhand regrouped to hold his serve and take a 4-2 lead, before setting up the chance to break Kopriva for the second time in the set - and the third Kopriva proved stubborn opposition by saving two match points, the second after a bad bounce on one of the divots left by Draper forced an error from the British number Draper clinched victory at the third time of asking, having hit twice as many winners as Kopriva (21-10), although Draper did notch up more unforced errors (37-27).Draper will next play France's world number 83 Corentin Moutet, who upset ninth seed Holger Rune in the last 16 in a match lasting nearly four hours.
Telegraph
11-05-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Live Jack Draper vs Vit Kopriva: Score and latest updates from Italian Open
Good afternoon and welcome to coverage of Jack Draper versus qualifier Vit Kopriva in the third round of the Italian Open. Draper silenced the Italian crowd in his opening encounter on Friday, beating home favourite Luciano Darderi 6-1, 6-4 in 78 minutes. The fifth seed, who had a first-round bye, looked like he had picked up from where he left off in Madrid, racing through the first set in 24 minutes after breaking the Italian three times. The Briton was made to work a little harder in the second set however but managed to see out the match in straights. Speaking after, Draper said: 'I think I came out really well. I think mentally I knew it was going to be a little bit difficult and I'm glad about how I played in certain moments. I think I needed a match here to feel like I was strong again and I just think it was a really good mental performance today.' The British No 1 is currently one of the most in-form players on the ATP Tour following his Indian Wells title in March and his runner-up showing in Madrid last month. Kopriva has played most of his tennis on the Challenger circuit this year and won a title on clay, in Naples in March. Ironically, the 27-year-old Czech beat Darderi in that final. Kopriva also made it to the quarter-finals in Marrakech, an ATP 250, last month. In Rome, the world No 92 had to come through qualifying which means he has a total of four matches under his belt coming into this contest with Draper. The pair met last year in Munich on the clay and that went the way of the Briton in three sets. That was their only meeting on the ATP Tour.
Daily Mail
09-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Jack Draper muscles his way past Luciano Darderi in Rome to reach the third round of the Italian Open
It wasn't just the altitude then. Jack Draper showed his muscular brand of clay court tennis can succeed at 13 metres above sea level as well as at 646m, beating Luciano Darderi 6-1, 6-4 to reach the third round of the Italian Open. The ball may not zip through the air here in Rome as it does in the heights of Madrid, where Draper reached the final last month, but when you can whack it like he does that scarcely matters. He ripped the Italian apart in the first set and ground him down in the second and that is what makes Draper such a dangerous opponent: he can play point-and-shoot tennis as well as anyone in the world, but take him into the trenches and he is ready to tough out long rallies, too. That latter quality will be required more in the slower conditions of Rome than it was in Madrid; balls were coming back against Darderi that would have been clean winners in the heights of the Spanish capital. 'Conditions felt a fair bit different,' said Draper, who plays Czech qualifier Vit Kopriva, the world No 92, on Sunday. 'But I have confidence in the way I'm playing, I don't see why I can't keep on playing really good level on any clay court. I'm learning all the time, playing better and better on the surface.' The 23-year-old Darderi is no slouch. He is the world No 46 and won the title on the clay of Marrakech in March; he is a bloody good tennis player but bloody good is not good enough against Draper at the moment. As winners poured from his racket in the first set frustration set in among the locals, who were tossing up their hands and shrugging as if to say: 'What can you do against that?' A superb rally in the third game of the second set raised the energy of the contest; Darderi and the crowd began feeding off each other. Draper faced break points in the third, seventh and ninth games but he saved them all - six in total - and then struck at 4-5 to take the match. The top players step up in the big moments and Draper is mastering that ability. 'I have belief in those moments that I'm not going to go into my shell, I kept on trying to come forwards, kept on trying to do the right things. 'That's what I see from top players, they back themselves every point, regardless of whether it's a break point or not. Those pressure moments, that's what separates great players from good players.
