"Jack has continuously improved every time we've played": De Minaur praises Draper's rise after tough US Open quarterfinal defeat

Alex De Minaur praised Jack Draper's rise on the Tour after losing in the US Open quarterfinals. The Australian reached his third consecutive quarterfinal in a major tournament but once again fell short of reaching the final four.

The world No. 10 has had a strong season, showing great consistency throughout the year, which propelled him to his career-high ranking of world No. 6 in July. However, he faced a formidable Jack Draper, who seems ready to make a bigger impact in a Grand Slam: "I think Jack has continuously improved every time we've played. Every year he's gotten better," De Minaur said after the match.

"He has the right work ethic. He's a great guy, great competitor, and he's doing the right things. He's got weapons, he knows how to use those weapons effectively. And look, he's yet to lose a set in this tournament, so he's got to be doing something right."

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Regarding the match, De Minaur was troubled by a hip injury, the same issue that forced him to withdraw from his clash against Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon. The 25-year-old admitted that he wasn't physically at 100%: "Sure, I wish I felt better, let's just put it that way," De Minaur said, referring to his injury. "It's tough. It's a big opportunity, it's a big chance.

"I'd rather try and think about what I was doing six, seven weeks ago, and where I am now, and try to focus on that instead of dwelling on what just happened and me potentially having one of the bigger opportunities of my career and it just slipping away from my hands. So I'm going to stick with the positives that I'm proud of myself."

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The Australian decided to play the match to the end despite his physical discomfort. Draper sealed a convincing 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 victory, extending his winning streak to 15 consecutive sets. When asked if he considered retiring from the match, De Minaur replied: "No, stopping didn't cross my mind at any stage. It's not part of me, part of my DNA, I don't like it, if I'm honest. I'm always going to give my best.

"It could have been naive of me, but I genuinely thought that there was a chance [of winning] even in that last game going in. I thought that there was a chance that I was going to change the match around and go out there and win it," the Aussie No. 1 said. "So at every stage in that match, I gave myself a shot, with my attitude, with my mindset, to go out there. I had some chances, as well, that who knows if I would have taken them, then maybe I would still be on court right now. So retiring, that's not part of me. I think over my career, you'll very rarely witness that."

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Mario Boccardi

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Jack Draper to Alex de Minaur 🤝🏼

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