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Jack Draper has said that he has had a “difficult” time over the last week after his integrity was questioned following a controversial point in his Cincinnati Open win over Felix Auger-Aliassime.
The British number one beat Canada’s Auger-Aliassime 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in the round of 16 in Cincinnati, but the match was overshadowed by a controversial match point in which the umpire failed to spot the ball hitting the floor as Draper hit a return.
Auger-Aliassime claimed that the ball had hit the frame of Draper’s racket before hitting the floor, but there was no replay technology available to back up his claim, though replays appeared to show that he was right.
Draper later insisted that he had not seen it, but “would have 100 per cent replayed the point” had it been called.
“It was difficult for four or five days afterwards - it was the first time I’ve experienced criticism and [had] my integrity questioned as an athlete,” Draper told BBC Sport.
“For me it’s one of the most important things to be honest, do the right thing, be a good person - more than just a good tennis player.”
“It’s freedom of speech at the end of the day, people can have their opinion and can say what they feel and think,” he added.
A number of current and former professionals commented on the incident, including Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andy Roddick, with the latter even going as far as to suggest that Draper would have known it was a foul shot.
“Do I necessarily agree with what they’re saying? No, because I was in the situation and I know my truth and that’s that I didn’t know.
“But obviously you have to respect that - it’s all part of being a great player, people are going to question you and I don’t blame them for that because when we saw the replay, it was clearly an illegal shot.”
Draper, who begins his US Open campaign against China’s Zhang Zhizhen, added that it’s “difficult seeing that criticism but being a top athlete you are going to be subject to certain situations where you are going to receive criticism.”
“I was thinking about it four days non-stop,” the 22-year-old added. “I was really upset by it.
“I think anyone would be lying if they’re saying they’re not hurt by seeing a lot of comments saying, ‘you’re a cheat’, ‘you’re a liar’. And, ‘I would have done this’ and, ‘I would have done that’.
“It’s hard in that situation to know what to do and also it’s good because it’s my first experience of sort of having negativity and having criticism and that’s all part of being a top athlete.
“People questioned my integrity, which is fine, but I was definitely hurt by it.”
