Jack Draper: ‘When you reach rock bottom like that you can come back up again’
Jack Draper broke down in tears during the final-set changeover of his first-round Canadian Open match against Térence Atmane in Montreal just over a week ago, and he has spoken about that moment ahead of Thursday’s first-round match against Martín Landaluce at the Cincinnati Open. The 24-year-old described the episode as the culmination of 15 months of pent-up emotion linked to an ongoing arm problem and other physical setbacks.
Injuries have been a recurring issue in Draper’s career, but he said the uncertainty of recovering from a bone bruise to his left arm over the past year has been the most difficult stretch he has faced. Two games from defeat he spent the entire changeover in tears, yet he was seen practising in Montreal the following day and his name remained on the Cincinnati entry list as a wildcard recipient. Draper said all his efforts since last July have been aimed at finding a way to compete consistently at the highest level again.
“I don’t get emotional often,” he says. “There was once I got emotional in practice in May when I had really bad knee tendinitis and my arm was really sore as well. I was in so much pain. I was running and my knee [hurt] and my hitting the balls and my arm was sore.”
Reflecting on the Canadian Open moment, Draper connected the reaction to a long period of setbacks and the need to start over. “Last week came from a place of, I think I had so much to focus on and manage, so much change going on in my tennis. I got to [No]4 in the world through doing the same things, the consistent work, the differences, and then went through this whole process of a lot of setbacks and a lot of struggle. “That’s taken a lot out of me. But then at the same time, I’m in a position where I’m having to start again. That reality is difficult sometimes. “The reason I got emotional was that through all the challenges, you can forget who you are on the court. And last week I felt like I couldn’t give any more. I was emotional because I didn’t recognise the player I was out on the court due to my injuries and due to probably the way I’ve been feeling for a long time. “When you reach rock bottom like that you can come back up again. Since then I’ve practised really well, I’ve had amazing support from the people around me and you get to a point more and more of acceptance. We’ve definitely reached that acceptance phase now.”
Draper said his rehabilitation process has required reversals of earlier changes to his racket setup and technique and that his retirement from Wimbledon on the eve of the tournament prompted even more drastic adjustments. He has returned to a hybrid gut string configuration and is using a much more flexible racket frame; he appears to be using a frame from a company other than his sponsor, Dunlop, which he declined to comment on.
“After this long period, my shift has gone away from performance,” he says. “I’m changing my string. I desperately don’t want to. I desperately know it’s hopefully not something that I’m going to have to do moving forwards, but it’s something I have to do for the nature of my injury. Same with the racket. “It’s a difficult one because I’m a winner. I’m out there, I want to perform. But I have to accept reality, which is that I have to find a way in very uncomfortable circumstances right now. But if that can get me to the end of the year where I’m feeling really good again and my body’s in a great place and my mind’s in a great place, then that’s only going to help me to move completely past this injury. But there is a way out and I’m seeing that on a day-to-day basis.”
A year ago Draper reached a career-high ranking of No 4; he is now ranked No 143 and the stop-start nature of his problems means he is not eligible for a protected ranking. As a result he is reliant solely on wildcards to gain entry to ATP tour events rather than using qualifying or the ATP Challenger circuit. “At the very start of my injury, if I was to say to myself: ‘Right, I’m four in the world now, what’s the worst outcome?’ It would probably be where I’ve got to,” he says, smiling. “But there’s a certain peace in that and acceptance because I have to start again. And what a challenge.”
Draper, a wildcard recipient at the Cincinnati Open, will play Martín Landaluce in the tournament’s first round on Thursday. He was seen practising in Montreal the day after the match against Atmane and remains on the Cincinnati entry list.