Jack Draper's press conference following his loss to Jannik Sinner in the semifinals of the 2024 US Open.
Question:
Jack, if you would, your thoughts on the match?
Jack Draper:
Yeah, I mean, I thought it was a decent level from both of us, especially the first two sets. Very physical, I think, the first couple of sets were about 2 hours 15. And it was tough having both of them not go my way.
But yeah, I thought obviously Jannik, again, plays at such a high level all the time, had chances here and there and I didn't take them. And obviously, when you play the best players in the world, you need to do that. And yeah, I obviously wasn't feeling my best and struggled at certain periods of the match, especially towards the end.
But, you know, Jannik beat me fair and square. He was too strong for me today.
Question:
Simon from Telegraph. Can you tell us if you came in feeling any stomach issues or was it the nausea just to do with the humidity?
Draper:
Yeah, I mean, I obviously was extremely humid today. Hasn't been pretty much the whole week as of yet. You know, I think, you know, it's obviously a very physical match.
Obviously, that's why Jannik is number one player in the world, because when you play the top players, the intensity is different. You know, it's a step up. You know, and I think obviously it's a big occasion for me.
You know, I definitely felt, even though I generally feel pretty relaxed and stuff, I definitely felt a little bit more excited today, you know, a few more nerves around. And, you know, I'm definitely someone who's, you know, I think quite an anxious human being. So I think, you know, when you add all that together, sometimes I do feel a bit nausea on court and I do feel a little bit sick when it gets tough.
So, yeah, I didn't have any problems before the match, but it obviously just built up.
Question:
Neil McClellan from the Mirror. Do you actually feel better when you threw up on the court? How close were you to retiring?
Draper:
No, you don't. You don't feel better. You just, you feel worse and worse because you can't put anything in your body.
You know, like when you're playing long matches, you need to be able to drink and to eat things and to, you know, give your body the supplies it needs to keep on going. But obviously when you're feeling sick and stuff like that, you can't put anything inside your body because it just comes straight out and it's the worst feeling ever. You can't move around the court when that happens.
So, no, it's a horrible feeling and you just feel more dizzy and more sick the more you are. Sorry, don't talk about retiring. Oh, sorry.
No, no, no. I'm not going to retire in the semis of a Grand Slam. I tried to, I know the last set, you know, I probably looked like from courtside or on TV that it was, you know, not a great look.
But, you know, at the end of the day, I always try and give my best. You know, the second set I was feeling not too great and, you know, I still pushed it to a tie break and I was just, I was fighting hard. You know, I'm proud of myself.
I tried to fight as hard as I can. You know, it's just not going to get it done against someone like that.
Question:
Hi, Jack. David Law from the Tennis Podcast. When did you first start to feel unwell in a match?
Draper:
I think, you know, we had like a tough opening set, you know, five all. We had a really tight game. You know, I definitely was, sometimes in the matches, you feel your anxious build up, you know, in certain moments.
And I definitely felt like five all in the first set was a big game, you know, threw in a couple of double faults. I think it was juice a few times. And then definitely when I came out for the first game in the second set, he was trying to obviously get the break first game.
And I managed to hold him off, but definitely he was starting to not feel great in that moment. So, like I said, like it was just, I tried to do my best to fight it for as long as possible. And I did a good job.
You know, I put myself in a winning position in some of those moments in the second set. Like I definitely felt like he was struggling as well. But obviously when you go two sets to love down, you know, it's still such a long way to go and you're just constantly getting feeling worse and worse.
Question:
You talk about the anxieties that you've had. You're 22, it's your 10th slam. Do you think those anxieties will go with more experience?
Do you think that's something that will disappear? And what do you do as a coping mechanism behind the scenes for those?
Draper:
Yeah, definitely. You know, like I'm getting as a player, you know, I'm getting more and more experience, you know, that's the one thing, you know, that's helping me this year and helping me to, you know, feel better in general is, you know, the more experiences you have of situations, the easier things become and you just take it all in your stride. You know, obviously Jannik's been in this situation a few times now, you know, so he can sort of relate to maybe the feelings.
You know, it's difficult, you know, like obviously I'm an athlete, I'm a tennis player, you know, there's so many athletes out there, you know, we've all got things we're working through all the time, you know, tennis especially or just any sport is hugely mental and physical and, you know, I try my best all the time to keep on evolving, to keep on learning and it's definitely something, you know, I've had to just work through my whole entire life, you know, I think I've got quite a strong mentality and quite sort of almost, you know, I use up a lot of mental energy a lot of the time because I want it so badly but obviously that doesn't necessarily help a lot of the time especially in these five set matches and that sort of anxiety and those feelings can build up so it's definitely just something that, you know, is a real strength of mine but also a weakness and I have to continue to work on it.
Question:
Hi Jack, Charlie from Athletic. Congrats on a great tournament. I just wonder like how different and what are the main differences of playing someone like a top player like Jannik in a best of five set match on that court?
Were there things that you sort of almost never experienced before?
Draper:
Yeah, I mean, I think firstly Jannik's obviously had, even though he's so young, he's obviously been in these situations many, many times. You know, I think to be fair, you know, before Australian Open this year, he kept on getting to the quarterfinals, the semifinals and came unstuck and I think, you know, it's all a process. You know, you have to go through the losses and the emotions of being there and not quite getting it done and, you know, maybe it was too much for him at certain times and, you know, as players we're constantly being put in situations that sometimes are new to us.
So we have to learn how to deal with it. I think someone asked me, you know, what do people say? It's like, well, you got to experience that yourself to understand it better and to know how you react to that situation.
I think, yeah, I think Jannik's got huge experience already and also, yeah, I mean, the reason why he's number one in the world and, you know, he's barely losing matches is because he's so consistent. His intensity, his ball speed, he's barely got any weaknesses and he's just able to be there point by point and raise his level when he needs to and mentally, physically, emotionally, everything's, you know, constantly improving and he's rock solid in all areas. So he's tough to beat.
Question:
Jack Davidson from the Sunday Times. What do you feel that you most need to do apart from just the experience and the passage of time? What do you feel that you need to do to maybe make that last step to get to that ultimate level?
Draper:
I think, honestly, I don't think I need to do anything different. I think it's just a matter of time. You know, I think I'm constantly trying to improve.
I've got great people around me. I'm doing all the right things. You know, like I said yesterday, when I came here last year, I was, you know, 120 in the world.
I barely played the whole season. You know, I think I'll be leaving here this week top 20 and, you know, having continued to achieve, you know, things that, you know, I'm breaking new barriers down the whole time of what I think is possible. So, you know, I don't think anything's going to just, oh, I need to do this and that's going to help.
I think it's more just keep on doing what I'm doing, experience. You know, for someone like Jannik or Carlos or some of these young players, you know, 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. And, you know, I'm still, this is my first proper year, I'd say, because of all my injuries and all my setbacks.
And so I'm a few years behind almost. So I think I just need to keep on learning, keep on growing, keep on, you know, 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.
And that's the biggest thing. I think it is honestly just a matter of time, it's experience, it's doing all the right things, it's training consistently. And, you know, over time you just progress and you get stronger and you get better.
And hopefully I'll be in these situations more often and I'm able to come through them.
Question:
Congratulations, Ubaldo Scanagata, UBITennis.com. Congratulations for the great tournament. Maybe was it too easy, the tournament you had until today, because you never had to play tiebreaker, never a very long, long set, maybe once or twice.
That could have helped you if you had done it. And one thing, you say it doesn't have almost any weakness. If you have to point out one weakness of Sinner, which one would you say?
Today he missed quite a few forehand.
Draper:
Yeah, in answer to the first question, I mean, I just did what I had to do, you know. I'm not going to take it to a tiebreaker. I don't need to take it to a tiebreaker or lose a set because I need to lose a set.
But, yeah, obviously, you know, my run to the semis, I didn't feel like I was overly sort of pushed almost. You know, I was playing good tennis. I felt like, you know, my opponents, maybe first round guy was injured and then Alex in the quarters maybe had a niggle and, you know, not taking anything away from me because you have to beat the guy in front of you at the end of the day.
But, no, I don't know. I don't know the answer to that question. But I suppose Sinner, what's one weakness?
He doesn't have many, mate. One, I don't know. Maybe he's too nice. Maybe he's too nice.
His forehand is pretty good as well. I'll tell you that for a fact.
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