Lorenzo Musetti praises Jack Draper, calls him 'one of best players' in the world after Madrid Open semifinal defeat

Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti has labelled Britain’s Jack Draper as one of the best players in the world. The two faced off in the semifinal of the Madrid Open, where the British tennis star came out on top in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 7-6.

Talking after the match, Musetti spoke to the media and admitted that Draper is one of the best players in the world, if not the best. “I have to say that Jack, at the moment, I think he's probably, if not the best player in the world, one of them,” he said. “So really happy to be sharing the court, and to see how far or how close I am."

It will be Draper’s second ATP final this season after winning the Indian Wells title, where he defeated Denmark’s Holger Rune in the final in straight sets with a score of 6-2, 6-2. Talking about his own performance on the day, the 2024 US Open runner-up stated that he was extremely pleased with his performance against an opponent whom he called a ‘beast’ on clay.

“I felt like both of us, our quality didn’t really drop from the first ball,” said Draper as quoted by ATP’s official website. “Credit to Lorenzo, he’s obviously playing so good on the clay. I played him on hard, and on grass when we were juniors, growing up with him. But on clay, he’s a different beast, so to get this win on this court in this stage, semi-finals, it means so much to me. I think towards the end of the second set I definitely felt like he started to play well, he hit a lot of winners and stuff. I [controlled] pretty well with good serve and volleys. I think I started serving really well and just learned what makes him uncomfortable in that moment and not letting him dictate me. That's something I was really happy with today, I think I problem-solved really well.”