British teenager Jack Draper will never forget his debut on the ATP Tour but unfortunately it will be for the wrong reasons.
The 19-year-old has been dubbed as one of his country’s rising stars. Awarded a wildcard into this week’s Miami Open Draper played his maiden ATP match on Thursday against Mikhail Kukushkin which came to a premature end. Playing in the blistering heat, the world No.316 had a medical time out during the closing stages of the opener. Then when facing a set point he fell to the ground which prompted him to retire from the match.
“About midway through I started feeling my back. I think the conditions got on top of me a little bit today,” Draper said following the match. “Physically, I just need to improve more and I got a lot to improve on.”
It would be easy for the youngster to blame the conditions or his inexperience for the outcome. Instead he says ‘the heat was difficult but everybody has to deal with it’ before going on to explain that a lack of match play in recent time due to injury affected him. Prior to Miami, Draper has played two Challenger and two ITF events this year.
“I have gone through a stage where I haven’t played a lot of tennis due to a few injuries and niggles which has kept me off (the court) a little bit. My match fitness is probably not at its best anyway,” he stated.
“At the changeover I started to feel my body a bit but I did know that I was really struggling. I spoke to them (the medical team) and said I was going to carry on. I wasn’t feeling faint and wanted to complete the match. On the last point I actually didn’t collapse, I tripped because I was starting to feel really dizzy.”
Draper, whose father was once the head of the LTA, first rose to prominence back in 2018 when he reached the final of the Wimbledon Boys tournament. Since then he has experienced a steady rise in the rankings and won seven ITF titles with the last occurring shortly before the Tour suspension due to COVID-19 last year.
Ironically the break in play enabled Draper to reevaluate his priorities in the sport and if he still has the drive to succeed the best he can. He admits that he previously had his doubts but they are now a thing of the past.
“This year I’ve really got the desire and the motivation to be a great tennis player,” he stated. “There’s been times in the past where maybe I have been a bit apprehensive about that but as I’ve got older I started to realise what I wanted to do and what I’m capable of.’
“I want to get to the top level of the game and I do anything to get there.”
After sorting out his plans for the future, Draper committed to a full off-season training block at the end of 2020 before he suffered another setback when he contracted COVID-19. It occurred during the same time as the outbreak at the National Tennis Center (NTC) which is where Andy Murray speculates he got infected and led to criticism from some players. Concerns were raised over a lack of social distancing and relaxation in protocols at the venue during December.
“I found out at a time when I was at the NTC. Whether I caught it from there I have no idea,” said Draper. “Whatever has been said I thought the LTA did an incredible job with handling the COVID situation. There were a lot of precautions in place.”
Having had the virus in January, some may question if Draper’s Miami Open fatigue could be related. Players such as Grigor Dimitrov and Stan Wawrinka have previously spoken about the weeks it took them to fully recover from the illness. However, the Brit isn’t so sure about himself.
“It did affect me quite badly for about seven days and then I recovered quite quickly. It definitely had an effect on me because I just had loads of training and that was pretty much taken away from me,” he revealed.
“You can’t say (if it affected his performance in Miami). I put in loads of great training since then so there’s no excuse. You don’t know how much it really affects you.”
Draper is currently coached on the Tour by Ryan Jones and fitness trainer Martin Skinner. He plans to return to England to play in the upcoming Pro Series in Loughborough to enhance his match fitness before taking part in a series of Challenger tournaments in Italy.
