Jack Draper vs Jannik Sinner - LIVE!
Speaking before he walked onto the court for his US Open semi-final showdown with Jannik Sinner, British number one Jack Draper offered a prescient prediction. “I’m going to have to play some incredible tennis... going to have to compete like an animal out there,” he said.
On a humid night in New York, the level of competing required was surely more physical than even Draper expected, as he sweated his way through shirts and shoes before having to clean up his own vomit on the baseline after twice throwing up during the second set.
The best part of two-and-a-half hours had been played by the time Sinner breezed through a tie-break at the end of that set to close in on victory, the race appearing to be increasingly run for an exhausted Draper, and so it proved. Sinner ruthlessly moved towards the finish line, wrapping up a 7-5 7-6 6-2 win. He will face either Taylor Fritz or Frances Tiafoe in Sunday’s final. That a straight-sets victory took a little over three hours pointed to a extraordinarily gutsy effort from Draper, who from near enough the first game appeared to be battling the conditions and his body, as well as his close friend on the other side of the net. Dripping with sweat throughout, he struggled to grip his racket as early as the first set.
