New British number one Jack Draper reached the final of the Boss Open in Stuttgart following an impressive 6-3, 6-3, victory over American’s Brandon Nakashima and now faces former champion Matteo Berrettini in tomorrow’s final.
The young Brit put in another commanding serving display, winning a stunning 94% of points behind his first serve, as well as mixing in strong returns and delicate drop shots to dispatch his opponent in just 72 minutes.
“I’ve been putting together some really good tennis this week, I’m playing as well as I can, I feel really confident in my game,” said Draper on court after the match. “You got to take your chances at this level because all these players are here to beat you and they believe they can beat you. So, you have to believe that extra.”
Draper held a breakpoint in the opening service game but could not take advantage. In the next game he was 0-30 down on his serve, but in a sign of things to come he pulled out three aces to signal his intent. The next few games were more even but at three games all Draper put Nakashima under serious pressure and finally broke through after his fourth breakpoint in the game, clenching his fist to his team. He broke again to take the first set 6-3 allowing him the advantage of serving first in the second set.
Draper made his move in the when 3-2 up; a lovely drop shot, then a nice net exchange forced an error from his opponent. Nakashima hit his third double fault and Draper’s strong backhand down the line won him the game. Another easy service game with two more aces followed and Draper stormed to a 5-2 lead in just 23 minutes. Nakashima held the next game from 0-30 down forcing Draper to serve out, and despite missing two volleys he closed the match with his thirteenth ace.
In his press conference after the match, Draper spoke about how comfortable he feels on the grass: “I reached the junior final at Wimbledon. A few years ago, I played my first professional tournaments on grass, had good and not so good results. Last year I completely missed the season. This year it was new, just because I’m British doesn’t mean I’m automatically good on it. But it suits my game, my service is good and I want to build on that.”
Draper follows in Andy Murray’s footsteps who also reached the final two years ago and spoke about his influence in his journey to the top of the British rankings: “obviously, I have been looking up to Andy since I was a little kid, and I remember going to watch him all over the world and I am very proud to be following in his footsteps. I didn’t think too much about [the rankings]. I always wanted to be one of the best players in the world. When that comes with the home No. 1, of course it’s great. I had Murray and Norrie as role models, they helped me a lot. It’s a great honour now and a great boost for my career.”
Draper now has the chance to win his first tour level title, and looking ahead to tomorrow’s final, he spoke about his new aggressive mindset: “[I need to] recover well, rest well and give it my all, that’s all I can do. Everyone here is an incredible player; anyone can beat anyone. Matteo plays at such a high level, but I have to play my A-game to have a chance. I lost the last two finals in close 3-set matches against good players. Hopefully I’ll play the game differently now. I was waiting for mistakes back then, now I’ve developed. I’ll do my best and see what comes out.”
Draper also spoke about how he feels totally at home at the tournament, one of the smaller events on tour allowing fans much closer access to the players who regularly walk past without layers of security and bodyguards.
“The German tournaments are so friendly. It’s nice to be in a clubhouse, you’re treated well, lots of fans and kids come,” said Draper. “This atmosphere makes it incredible to play here, whether you win or not. It’s important to me to feel at home at a tournament and they’ve done that really well here. I don’t speak much German. Thank you, that’s it. I like the country, the food is good, the people welcome you. They love tennis here, they like the players, it’s a nice atmosphere and I like being there for the fans.”
Berrettini awaits
In the final, he faces two-time former champion Matteo Berrettini, who came through a tough first set and was triple breakpoint down when serving for it before running away with the match 6-4, 6-0 against compatriot Lorenzo Musetti, courtesy of 17 winners and a healthy 77% points won at net.
“I am very happy,” said the Italian afterwards. “It feels more difficult every time but then I find a way to play better. There must be something here. I’ve always played successfully here. I really missed the feeling of playing successfully. It means a lot to me to be back in the final here.”
The 28-year-old has won four titles on the faster surface and is now going for his third Stuttgart title. “It’s just special here,” he said. “There is a bit of altitude, but you can definitely feel it. I felt at home here from the very first time. Then there’s my BOSS family and there are a lot of Italians here. It’s a big Italian community. Even the ball kids are growing up with me. I can still remember when they were smaller. It means I’m getting older too, but that’s fine. I like being here.”
In his press conference, Berrettini opened up on how he has been able to deal with missing so much of the tour due to injury: “what I missed most because of the injuries was the competition. That also made me sad because I missed so much. That I couldn’t play Rome for three years in a row, for example. Now I’m going to miss Paris/Olympics, that was always my lifelong dream. It’s very hard as an athlete. At the same time, our season is very long with many important tournaments. When I missed the clay season, I told myself that I would enjoy the grass season all the more. I try to see the glass half full, not half empty. It was the right move to let the sadness come first, that’s normal. Then you pull yourself out of it.”
Finally, as he looked ahead to tomorrow’s final, he recognised the threat posed by the young Brit: “First time against Draper: I haven’t even practiced with him yet, if I’m not mistaken. He has a lot of talent, serves great and is a lefty. You don’t beat players like that easily. It will be a tough match, but at the same time a first meeting and a final. I hope that my coaches have studied him. I will definitely enjoy the final.”
