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Jack Draper has defended Emma Raducanu following criticism of her first-round exit at the US Open, insisting that she has been facing unfair expectations since winning the tournament three years ago.
Draper is the first British player to reach the US Open semi-finals since Raducanu’s surprise victory as an 18-year-old qualifier and he will play World No 1 Jannik Sinner for a place in the final tonight.
Draper, 22, has taken a more gradual path to his big breakthrough at a major tournament after encountering problems with his body and injuries earlier in his career.
Raducanu was beaten in the first round in New York last week, losing to Sofia Kenin in three sets, with the 21-year-old admitting she got her preparations for the tournament wrong.
Raducanu’s decision to not play any tournaments as build-up in the weeks before the US Open was criticised, including from tennis legend Martina Navratilova, however it came after the Briton missed eight months of last season after undergoing wrist and ankle surgeries.
“I think it’s important that people give her time to be on her journey and to improve physically and to put years of working to get back to that point,” Draper said after reaching the semi-finals of a grand slam for the first time.
“There’s no doubt it was extremely difficult for Emma, because she’d done her A Levels, and she’d just come out of school, and all of a sudden she came here, and she had a dream run and won, and I think the expectation on her after that was huge.
“She hadn’t necessarily built up the physical foundations and the general foundation you need to be on the tour full time.”
Draper, who like Raducanu in 2021 has not dropped a set in reaching the semi-finals of the US Open, has said he has taken inspiration from Raducanu’s title run three years ago, as well as Andy Murray’s maiden grand slam victory in New York in 2012.
Draper also reflected that having to take time to get used to the demands of playing on the professional tennis tour, following several injury lay-offs, is now paying off with his sensational run in New York.
“It’s made me realise that this is something where I have to put all my life into this sport,” Draper said. “I have to eat the right things, train even harder than I ever have done before. Get good people around me and kind of shut myself off and really focus on what’s going to make me one of the best players in the world.
“And I think learning those lessons, learning from other players and their different experiences, and seeing what’s gone on with me, I think it’s definitely important that I really looked at myself and tried to figure out how I’m going to be consistent.”
