Jack Draper sparks damage issues as Brit uncertain what to anticipate at French Open

Jack Draper has admitted he’s nonetheless trying to find “confidence” in his physique – and the injury-hit star doesn’t know if he’ll maintain up in his first French Open. “I don’t know what’s gonna happen this week,” he stated.

The British No 4’s younger profession has seen him beat No 6 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime on the US Open final 12 months and defeat Andy Murray and Dan Evans in Indian Wells this season. But the uber-talented 21-year-old has additionally been dogged by accidents.

He wanted injections to do away with a “chronic” hip downside attributable to scar tissue in the beginning of the 12 months and he then suffered an stomach pressure which stored him out of Miami, Madrid and Rome. The huge left-hander has performed solely 16 matches in six occasions this 12 months – and all three of his wins in Grand Slams have been in straight units.

He took a set off Rafa Nadal within the first spherical on the Australian Open – in maybe the Spaniard’s final ever Grand Slam match – however Draper has by no means performed a five-set match. “In all honesty, I’m waiting for my breakthrough with that,” stated the world No 60. “I’ve not had many opportunities to play loads of Slams, to play the four sets, five sets and all that sort of thing.

“I’m still waiting to find that confidence in my body. I’ve got a lot of confidence in my tennis but I feel like I need more time. I haven’t played at all for so many weeks and stuff. I don’t know what’s gonna happen this week. I have no idea.

“But all I know is that I’ve done all the right things the last six weeks. I’ve trained really well, I’ve done the right thing to my body. I’ve looked after myself and trained really well. It’s good to get a few matches last week and I feel really good coming into this tournament.

“The main thing now is, whatever happens after this week, to make sure that I’m consistently playing through to Wimbledon, after Wimbledon to the end of the year, because that’s when coming to these tournaments starts to become very normal and very comfortable.”

To enhance his bodily conditioning, Draper has been working with former double Olympian Dejan Vojnovic – the Croatian ran the 100m in 10.2 seconds and entered the bobsleigh – because the finish of final 12 months. “He thinks that I’m in a great place with my body and stuff,” he stated.

“It’s just sorting out all these niggles that I’ve had. He gets me running a lot, mainly on the endurance side, because that’s an area that I’ve had to really up coming into the Grand Slams and playing tour more often. So we’ve put in a lot of work so far, but it’s only been three months, four months. The more consistent that is over months, years, that’s when I become more complete.”

Draper gained two matches to succeed in the quarter-finals of the Lyon Open final week – together with No 5 seed Miomir Kecmanovic – earlier than dealing with Argentine world No 46 Tomas Martin Etcheverry within the French Open first spherical on Monday.

“I don’t know a lot about him. Obviously he is Argentinian and obviously he has grown up on the clay. I feel pretty good though. I played some good matches last week. In Monte Carlo as well, I played an Argentinian (Sebastian Baez) who was really good, so actually, for someone who never really played on a clay court and for being British, I feel pretty good on clay weirdly. So I don’t know about his game really. But I know that I’m confident.”