In the final throes of a tense, uneasy tussle with one of the bigger servers in his sport, Jack Draper was fading. The British No 1, and second seed, had started poorly: he had struggled to find his range on his groundstrokes for much of the occasion and then two match points passed him by. Deep in the third-set tie break, he trailed 2-4.
Over the past year, though, a period during which he has established himself as one of the best players in the world, Draper has continually shown his ability to find a path to victory no matter what. In the first week of his grass-court homecoming, the 23-year-old offered a forceful demonstration of his supreme competitive spirit as he recovered to defeat Australia’s Alexei Popyrin, the world No 21, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5) to reach the quarter-finals at Queen’s Club.
