Jack Draper admitted that the tricky conditions but also anxiety and nervousness played a part in him vomiting several times during his US Open semifinal match against Jannik Sinner.
On Friday, the 22-year-old Briton made his first Grand Slam semifinal appearance. And although he competed pretty well against the current world No. 1, in the end he didn’t have enough as the Italian tennis superstar claimed a 7-5 7-6 (3) 6-2 win.
During the match, the world No. 25 had to puke a couple of times and it happened right on the court. However, since it was a humid day in New York and Draper was playing the biggest of the match, it wasn’t hard to guess what caused him not feel the best out there.
Afterward, the recent Stuttgart champion himself admitted that the occasion was too big for him and that playing one of the best in the game didn’t help either.
“Yeah, I mean, obviously it was extremely humid today. Hasn’t been pretty much the whole week as of yet. You know, I think it was obviously a very physical match. Obviously that’s why Jannik is the No. 1 player in the world, because when you play the top players, the intensity is different. You know, it’s a step up,” the 25th-seeded Briton explained.
“I think obviously it’s a big occasion for me. I definitely felt, even though I generally feel pretty relaxed and stuff, I definitely felt more excited today, a few more nerves around. I’m definitely someone who is, I think, quite an anxious human being. I think 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. Yeah, I didn’t have any problems before the match, but it obviously just built up.”
Draper funnily reveals Sinner’s only weakness: Too nice…
Before meeting at Flushing Meadows, the British tennis player and the 23-year-old Italian played doubles together at the Montreal Masters and reached the quarterfinal there before giving a walkover to their rivals. And after winning their respective US Open quarterfinal matches, both spoke extremely highly of one another.
Since the two clearly have a good relationship off the court, the reporters in New York were interested in seeing if the Briton could reveal to them if Sinner had any weaknesses.
“What’s one weakness? He doesn’t have many, Mate. One. Don’t know. Maybe he’s too nice (laughing).” the world No. 25 said.
Draper was hoping to emulate Emma Raducanu
This summer was pretty good for the 22-year-old, who became an ATP champion in Stuttgart and will be enjoying a new career-high ranking of No. 20 on Monday.
However, it is not a secret that he wasn’t regarded as one of the top favorites for the US Open title. But after the rising British star clinched five consecutive straight-set wins in New York, many started looking at him with more respective.
That’s when some started bringing up Raducanu’s historic 2021 US Open and wondering if Draper could pull off something similar. And before the Sinner match, the 25th-seeded Briton admitted he was inspired by Raducanu and would like to also become a Slam champion at Flushing Meadows.
“What Emma did was obviously incredibly inspiring. I’ve known her from a young age and to see what she did was incredible. I was very proud of her, very excited, watching it thinking, obviously we’ve watched the likes of Andy Murray winning a Grand Slam from Great Britain, but her winning, it was just really a fairytale run. I definitely think as a competitor, it fuelled my fire. I really wanted to achieve what she’d done, winning a Grand Slam,” he said.
Although Draper didn’t manage to go all the way at the US Open, it doesn’t change the fact that it was an outstanding run and now he will be hoping that he can continue to trend in the right direction and make further progress in the rest of the year.
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