Jack Draper admits Queen's crowd helped him "Big time" during his tiebreak win against Alexei Popyrin

British number one Jack Draper has outlined exactly what the fans did during his tiebreak win against Alexei Popyrin that helped him get over the line.

After admitting in recent days that he had to withdraw from training for a couple of days following a nasty fall, Draper was pushed all the way in his last-16 game against Alexei Popyrin. Having to win via a tiebreak in the third set, it was clear to all fans watching that Draper was clearly struggling with something.

Draper admitted after the match to reporters that he felt quite flat and needed the extra boost from the fans to guarantee the win. Draper would say the crowd helped him “big time, yeah” post-match, as well as going into detail over why this happened:

"I thought today especially, you know, I needed it. I think in the first set I was pretty flat. I played a really poor game".

"You know, it was tough. He was serving cannons, and I felt quite low on my energy. I have not been feeling so good. I think I really got myself going. I think the crowd picked up on that. I think maybe the crowd picked up on the fact that I needed that energy. And definitely I felt that in the second and third set. Started to feel like they were behind me. In the tiebreak also".

"Yeah, seemed like they were quite worn out by it, because it’s really not many people left in the stadium now. I appreciate all their support, and it definitely was a big factor in why I was able to get over the line today".

Having secured a crucial win at this stage of Queen's, Draper will undoubtedly be boosted by the early exit of Taylor Fritz, now giving him a seemingly clear run to the title if he can overcome Carlos Alcaraz.

Draper proved his excellence in his last match, not by his exceptional performance but instead his ability to fight back and win against a dangerous opponent when he wasn't at his best. A true mark of a player that's capable of achieving big things is when they can grind out these results with limitations to your top ability.

This could prove to be huge for Draper as his Queen's campaign progresses and moving forward into the big one at Wimbledon in just a few weeks. If the British number one can go on and win his maiden title at Queen's then who knows what he's capable of after that, only time will tell.