Andy Roddick breaks down Draper and Perricard’s Grand Slam potential after recent titles

Andy Roddick spoke about the Grand Slam potential of Jack Draper and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard after both were crowned champions over the weekend. The Brit No. 1 defeated Karen Khachanov at the Vienna Open, while the Frenchman defeated Ben Shelton to claim his second title of the season.

The 2003 US Open champion emphasized that there’s still a big difference in experience between the two players, even though they’re just over a year apart in age: "There's such a difference. Perricard went from 200 in the world to 31 currently, and now we're talking about him winning Majors. Let's take a second."

Read also

(VIDEO) Andrey Rublev again violently smashes racquet of his knee during disasterous loss at Paris Masters

"Draper, a little bit more of a process, was up, then he went down, and now he's kind of back up. Uh, Draper—you've heard me on air—and I think he would probably tell you we saw it a little bit at the US Open also, uh, when he had the old vomit."

Roddick highlighted the importance of advancing their physical training if they want to challenge players like Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. "The difference in training is making sure that your body can—you have to be prepared at a slam. So, to get to this major contention that the question led with, your body—it’s not going to go the distance every time. Your body has to be able and be prepared to play 5 hours, seven times, 14 days, in heat, in weather."

Read also

ANALYSIS: Can Jack Draper fill the hole in British tennis since Andy Murray’s retirement?

"Draper sweats like I did. Like, it's just disgusting, right? Like, we're both gross, sweaty individuals. He's going to have to find his stride on what the food looks like, being prepared physically. Does that mean he's training in London? Is there another base where he gets into heat?"

"My personal experience was, I would get my body ready doing sprints, lifting, doing the whole thing for a month straight in Austin every day, six days—you know, six days a week, 7-day rest—up at 6:00 in the morning, falling into bed at 9:00 p.m., rinse, repeat, being perfect with diet,” the former world No. 1 added.

Read also

Kafelnikov slams Sinner as ‘one-dimensional’ as Alcaraz placed alongside Big-3 legends

"My body's ready. We would stop in Hawaii on the way to Australia to get used to time zones, but I would literally play on this court in Hawaii that was made of lava rocks and would just cook myself for two weeks to get used."

"To give myself a chance, you have to tick all those boxes because I promise you Sinner is; I promise you Alcaraz is," Roddick added. "Draper is more body. I think Perricard is not going to play those long points; he's not going to get dragged into it. When your average second-serve speed is 130, um, this guy is just a complete… he's just so different. His is going to be more skill-based."