Just a week after the first great grand slam breakthrough of his career, Jack Draper had no time to digest his considerable achievement. He was already back in action in a high-stakes tussle.
The rapid turnaround from his run to the US Open semi-finals was challenging enough, but this has also been an unusually gruelling summer with the Olympics and numerous surface changes. Every other singles semi-finalist, male and female, chose to rest this week.
In his first experience of leading Great Britain’s Davis Cup team as their No 1 player, the challenge proved to be a step too far for Draper as he was outplayed 7-6 (4), 7-5 by an inspired Francisco Cerúndolo, who spent two hours firing outlandish forehand winners to every line on the court. Cerúndolo’s victory sealed the win for Argentina against Great Britain, with the tie finishing 2-1.
After struggling with hamstring soreness at the end of the US Open in addition to the vomiting and physical problems he suffered during his semi-final loss to the eventual champion, Jannik Sinner, Draper said he has had little time to bask in his success as he rushed to recover for the Davis Cup but he is pleased with his efforts.
“It’s been such a quick turnaround,” he said. “I obviously got the flight home, then it’s been about getting over the jet lag, getting up here, I didn’t celebrate at all, because I wanted to be in the best shape possible for being here. That’s the thing about tennis, we’re always on to the next thing, with the Davis Cup being the week after the US Open, for the players who do well it’s very difficult.”
During his US Open run, Draper noted that he had barely had a day off since April. He now believes that the “mental” calendar will be difficult for players of his generation to gain longevity in this gruelling calendar.
“It’s my opinion that it’s going to be very hard for players of my age to achieve longevity any more,” he said. “I look at the sort of schedule and I know players have done it for years, but the way the ATP have changed to two weeks with the Masters and these types of things, it’s giving us no time any more. There’s literally no break. It’s really mentally and physically challenging.”
Tomás Martín Etcheverry had taken the first point for Argentina by overpowering Dan Evans 6-2, 7-5, before Cerúndolo secured an unbeatable 2-0 lead. Evans and Neal Skupski then defeated Maximo Gonzalez and Andrés Molteni 6-3, 7-5. With this defeat, Great Britain’s chances of qualifying for the quarter-finals in Málaga are significantly diminished. They will play their final group stage match against Canada on Sunday and may need to win 3-0 to even face a chance of advancing.
Despite no longer boasting Juan Martín del Potro or Guillermo Coria, their team captain, Argentina have three top-35 singles players aged between 23 and 26 in Sebastián Báez (No 26), Cerúndolo (No 31) and Etcheverry (No 34). It was Etcheverry who set the tone with a quality performance, serving well, dictating the exchanges with his forehand and he neutralised Evans’ wicked slice backhand by constantly approaching the net to it.
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A year after experiencing his first taste of Davis Cup delirium on the same court, Draper returned to Manchester as a top-20 player, a grand slam semi-finalist and Britain’s No 1 option. But he faced a talented opponent in Cerúndolo, who is armed with one of the most destructive forehands on the tour. Draper said: “A lot of the time you play someone and they’re playing at a high level, you think you’ll get your chances, their level will drop, but his didn’t today. Fair play to him.”
Cerúndolo was in the zone from early on and he dictated the majority of exchanges throughout. Draper competed well, recovering from 3-5 down in set one to force a tie-break, but he was always on the back foot, scrambling and chasing until the end. On the decisive points, Cerúndolo stepped inside the baseline and determined his own destiny.
“I felt pretty good,” Draper said. “I’m here with the team, there’s a lot of energy, I want to win, I want to do my best for the team. There’s no doubt it’s a quick turnaround, I think a lot of people in my position would have not come this week. But I love playing for my country, I want to be here for the team, I made the right decision to come here and play. I didn’t win today and that hurts a lot, but I’ve given my all for the team.”
