Jack Draper gets pointed advice from former British No 1s after Carlos Alcaraz comments
Jack Draper was downbeat after his Italian Open quarter-final defeat against Carlos Alcaraz, but he has been told to see the bigger picture by two former British No 1 players.
Draper has been one of the stand-out performers on the ATP Tour this season, with his win at the Indian Wells Masters backed up by some impressive performances on clay courts that included a run to the Madrid Open final.
He was beaten 6-4, 6-4 by Alcaraz in a competitive quarter-final in Rome and even though he played well against the reigning French Open champion, he was critical of his efforts in the Italian capital.
“Carlos was better tactically and emotionally than me. I sit here very frustrated with my match today. I could have tactically changed a few things better and I think emotionally I was too negative,” he told Sky Sports Tennis.
“A lot of that is how much tennis I’ve played, but top players bring that out of you, and Carlos was the better player and deserved to win.
More Tennis News
Jannik Sinner opens up about friendship with Jack Draper – ‘We are humble’
The 11 men who earned most ATP Ranking points during Sinner’s ban. Zverev down in 10th
“I still think there’s some things where against a top clay-court player like today, certain things can get exposed. My return, for instance, you have to have a little bit more height on the clay. I don’t think I did a great job of that today.
“And especially in the matches I’ve lost so far, they’ve been able to find my backhand a little bit. I’ve got to keep working on being more physical and understanding how to be more effective in terms of getting it to their backhand. It’s a bit more of a chess game on clay and I’m still learning.”
Those comments inspired Laura Robson to suggest Draper needed to see the light amid the shade of his exit from the latest ATP Masters 1000 tournament.
“Listening to that, you almost feel like he’s too harsh coming off the back of that. Off an amazing few weeks he’s had and still thinking about point by point what he could have done differently,” said Robson.
“At that point, I don’t think he would have had time to speak to James Trotman as coach. The fact he’s already thinking about exactly what went wrong, what he could do better. I mean, it’s a good thing in many ways, but you just wonder mentally, that’s got to take it out of you as well to be that tough on yourself day to day.
“Also, when he’s speaking about tactics like that, and obviously there was some frustration, but when you’re physically not fresh enough to be able to play the way you want to play, I think that’s sometimes is super frustrating.
“At times that felt like it was just creeping through in Jack’s game where he knows what he should do, but can your legs actually hold up to be able to do it? And after this much tennis, understandably, the energy levels weren’t there at times, but that’s normal. That’s okay, and he’ll learn from it and do better next time.”
Tim Henman joined Robson in suggesting Draper needed to find more positives in his progress as he said: “This is where it’s very important the team around him, led by James Trotman, are just able to take a step back and say, ‘let’s not forget you were playing the French Open champion, probably the most naturally gifted clay-court player in the game right now. You were up 4-2 in the first set, and you’re frustrated that you lost the match’.
“That’s where you have to be able to then reflect on the journey, the improvement he’s made, not only in the clay-court season, but this year as a whole.
“He’s a completely different animal [on clay now than last year], and that is what’s very, very exciting, because he is still learning. He’s so inexperienced on clay.
“We’ve seen that his game adapts so well to clay. It’s important that he recharges the battery so that he’s fresh going to Roland Garros.
“He’s learning to manage it in all areas of his life. We saw in New York the emotion, the anxiety with the vomiting, and he has made huge strides there.
“Dealing with the demands of the tour, the schedule when you are traveling and you’re playing day in, day out because you’re winning matches, you’ve got to make sure you’re not wasting physical and emotional energy so that you can perform against the very best players in the world. That’s what’s very exciting, but also important to reflect on, he’s only just starting.
“This time last year he was injured, his body was breaking down and there were big question marks. Now we’re talking about a player that’s in the top five of the world, has won a Masters 1000, and is going into Roland Garros not as the favourite, but one of the favourites. That’s exciting.”
READ NEXT: Carlos Alcaraz reveals big change of mindset as he beats his nemesis
