A figure of composure and poise throughout what would transpire to be the biggest afternoon of his career so far, Jack Draper could not contain his emotions any longer by the end. Calm at the moment of triumph, when Carlos Alcaraz whipped a final forehand into the net, respectful at the shake of hands, the 22-year-old from Sutton in south London leapt up in the air and screamed towards his elated player box.
Nineteen years on from Andy Murray’s emergence to the British public at Queen’s – and a day after the two-time Wimbledon champion retired with the end of his career close now – this felt like a statement win. A changing of the guard: Draper has arrived.
And it wasn’t just the impressive straight-set scoreline, 7-6(3), 6-3, which caught the eye on a sunny afternoon in West Kensington. Nor was it restricting Alcaraz, one of the game’s great returners, to just one break point all afternoon. It was everything working exquisitely in tandem with Draper – undeterred by a rare miss – playing with complete clarity. This was all-out attack.
After winning his first ATP tour title on the grass of Stuttgart last week, Draper stated it felt like a “penny-drop moment” when he decided, together with his team, that it was down to him to be authoritative out on court. No more pushing the ball into play. No more waiting for the opponent to make the first move. And it showed in the pivotal moments against the defending Queen’s and Wimbledon champion.
The Brit was near-faultless on serve, with his sweeping lefty serve leaving Alcaraz reaching in vain for the ball on numerous occasions. And on return, when the opportunity presented itself, Draper was the man dictating. The only break of the match came at 3-2 in the second set. Break point number one, would Draper be conservative? Not a bit of it. One punched backhand down the line for a winner and from that moment, he would not be denied.
Draper, 16 months older than his multiple major winning opponent, shoved his rewarding brand of hard-hitting power straight down the throat of men’s tennis’ hottest property, from the get-go. Straight away Draper, a finalist in the boys’ singles at Wimbledon in 2018, was unafraid to rip some monstrous forehands behind a first-serve which has improved in accuracy and consistency under new coach Wayne Ferreira, the champion at Queen’s 32 years ago.
Early on, Alcaraz looked unusually irritated, first by a persistent bee in his vicinity as he served and then by how quick umpire Mohamed Lahyani was announcing the score, thus starting the 25-second shot-clock. Nevertheless, with no break points to speak of, it was clear early on that a tie-break would be necessary to split them.
But, against the form book, Draper took command rapidly: cleaning the line with his first-serve, imperious on return, and it was Alcaraz who looked a tad out of kilter with the significance of the moment as he dumped another return into the net. The Spaniard trudged to his chair, while Draper leapt into a one-set lead.
And in the second set, Draper did not let the momentum swing. Alcaraz, who had not lost on grass in two years, verbalised his frustration in his native Spanish to a player box as befuddled as him by the direction proceedings were taking. With the score 3-2 in his favour, the Brit clinched the first break of the match with his first break-point in stunning style – a winner on his backhand side.
By this point, the French Open champion looked beyond unsettled. He was rattled, tennis’s best mover completely outmanoeuvred by Draper’s swashbuckling lefty groundstrokes. On both sides, at the net and at the baseline, the unseeded player was barely missing and playing with an impressive freedom on the cusp of the biggest victory of his fledgling career.
Alcaraz – forever a competitor even if his usual high standards desert him – saved three match points to force Draper to serve it out and the Brit’s advantage looked on thin ice at 0-30. But, staying in the moment, his serve came to his rescue again as he sealed a quarter-final date with Tommy Paul on Friday.
Draper had played a stormer. And he knew it. “It was a really tough match, Carlos is defending champion, won at Wimbledon, an incredible talent,” he said afterwards.
“I had to come out and play really well and luckily I did. There’s no place I’d rather be right now.”
