"You almost feel like he's too harsh": Laura Robson shares thoughts about Jack Draper's comments after losing Rome Open quarterfinal to Carlos Alcaraz

Former British tennis player Laura Robson believes her fellow countryman Jack Draper should not be too harsh despite losing in the quarterfinal of the Rome Open. The 23-year-old, who is already regarded as one of the best players currently playing in men’s tennis in the singles category, is going through an impressive season.

Draper’s most recent appearance was in the ATP 1000 event in the Italian capital, where his journey ended in the quarterfinal, where he lost to Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets with a score of 6-4, 6-4. That run was not a one-off this season. Earlier, he lifted the Indian Wells title where he defeated Denmark’s Holger Rune in the final in straight sets. Just before coming to Rome, the London-born star finished as the runner-up at the Madrid Open after losing to Norway’s Casper Ruud in the final.

Former British player Robson spoke to Sky Sports after the match, praising Draper’s performance in the competition. She also suggested that the current world number five is becoming a little too harsh about himself.

"Listening to that, you almost feel like he's too harsh coming off the back of that,” she said. “Off an amazing few weeks he's had and still thinking about point by point what he could have done differently. At that point, I don't think he would have had time to speak to James Trotman as coach. The fact he's already thinking about exactly what went wrong, what he could do better. I mean, it's a good thing in many ways, but you just wonder mentally, that's got to take it out of you as well to be that tough on yourself day to day. Also, when he's speaking about tactics like that, and obviously there was some frustration, but when you're physically not fresh enough to be able to play the way you want to play, I think that's sometimes is super frustrating. At times that felt like it was just creeping through in Jack's game where he knows what he should do, but can your legs actually hold up to be able to do it? And after this much tennis, understandably, the energy levels weren't there at times, but that's normal. That's okay, and he'll learn from it and do better next time."