Jack Draper cruelly denied British No.1 spot after De Minaur retirement as bad luck continues

ATP
Sunday, 03 March 2024 at 09:30
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Britain’s tennis star Jack Draper’s bad luck continues, this time in the Mexican Open. The 22-year-old had to retire from the semifinal of the competition while facing Australia’s Alex de Minaur.
If Draper would have won that tie, he would cement his place in the top 30. However, he will now be ranked as high as 37 when the new ATP rankings are revealed on Monday.
After the match, Draper stated that he would continue to fight and improve his ranking as that is his primary objective.
“I have spoken about rankings goals with my coach and if I can stay injury-free and stay on the trajectory I have been on since last summer, there is no reason why I can’t be ranked in the top 20 by the end of this year,” said Draper. “That’s my goal, that’s where I want to be. I know I can go a lot further than that, but one step at a time and that’s a good goal for me.”
His opponent in the semifinal De Minaur heaped praise on Draper, who according to him is ‘one hell of a player’ and wished him a speedy recovery as well.
“He’s a hell of a player, a hell of a talent and I hope it’s nothing too serious,” he said. “I think those are the types of situations which are the hardest to control as a player because you’re stuck in two minds.
“One mind is, alright, you can see your opponent hurting. So let’s just try and put the ball in the court and make him just miss. What you really have to do is play the same style of tennis that you were that got you to that stage. So it’s extremely hard to focus in those situations, and often these are the matches that can complicate themselves.
“Even though I dropped that second set, I knew he was hurting from then and I just told myself to bring up the intensity, try and get a head start in the third set and make it a little bit harder for him.
“But honestly, I wish him a speedy recovery. He’s a hell of a player, a hell of a talent and I hope it’s nothing too serious.”

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