"Maybe he's too nice": Jack Draper struggles to find Jannik Sinner's weakness after gruelling US Open defeat

Jack Draper said that it is just a matter of time before he makes another Grand Slam breakthrough as he was dumped out in the semi-finals by Jannik Sinner at the US Open.

A player that he heavily lauded in his post match press conference as he said that he is perhaps just too nice as the only criticism he could find out of anything.

“Sinner! What's one weakness? He doesn't. He doesn't have many, mate. He does not. One uh, don’t know maybe he's too nice . Maybe he’s too nice. He’s pretty good as well, I’ll tell you that for a fact,” Draper said.

He also believes that experience played a part in favour of Sinner. "Even though he's so young, he's obviously been in these situations many, many times. Before the Australian Open this year, he kept on getting to the quarterfinals, the semifinals, and came unstuck," Draper added.

"It's all a process. I think Jannik's got huge experience already. The reason why he's No. 1 in the world and he's barely losing matches is because he's so consistent."

But despite defeat, he leaves the US Open very much upbeat. In a similar vein to Emma Navarro who didn't expect such a run in the women's tournament, Draper now leaves with the fire and desire that he can become a Grand Slam champion.

“I don't think I need to do anything different,” said Draper. “I think it's just a matter of time. I think I'm constantly trying to improve. I've got great people around me, I'm doing all the right things.

“When I came here last year I was 120 in the world, barely played the whole season. I think I'll be leaving here this week in the top 20. I'm breaking new barriers down the whole time of what I think is possible.

"I don't think I need to do this and that to help. I think it's more just keep on doing what I'm doing. Experience for someone like Jannik or Carlos or some of these young players, they've been on the tour for about three or four years now, constantly playing, constantly learning, constantly taking wins and losses and experiencing losing in the quarters or semis of a Grand Slam.

"This is my first proper year, because of all my injuries and all my setbacks, so I'm a few years behind almost.

"So I think I just need to keep on learning, keep on growing, keep on having situations like today where I came unstuck and, you know, how am I going to do it different next time and all these types of things.

"That's the biggest thing I think it is, honestly, just a matter of time. It's experiences, doing all the right things, it's training consistently, and over time you just progress and you get stronger and you get better. Hopefully I'll be in these situations more often and I'm able to come through them.”