Vulnerable Rafael Nadal overcomes cramping Briton Jack Draper
After taking the second set, the chance was there for Jack Draper but his body let him down
Jack Draper’s dream of overcoming his childhood idol Rafel Nadal on Rod Laver Arena came to grief in the most painful manner.
Laid low by crippling cramps, Draper was moving like the Tin Man by the end of this punishing contest. For the final four games, he could barely walk from one side of the court to the other between points, let alone chase down Nadal’s booming forehands.
We should credit Draper for fighting to the end, where many young players would have abandoned the match. His face was a mask of pain at the final changeover, as he sat in his chair with sweat pooling around him. The temperature here was around 28 degrees – hardly outrageous by local standards – but the humidity was high and there is precious little airflow around these big stadia.
Draper had run Nadal hither and thither for much of his 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 defeat, which occupied 3hr 41min. But tennis at this level is not simply about forehands and backhands. You need to maintain an awe-inspiring level of physicality to see off one of the big dogs of the sport, and Draper – an outstanding 21-year-old talent – has yet to accrue the required endurance.
Nadal was hugely complimentary about Draper in his on-court interview. “He’s young,” Nadal told John Fitzgerald, “he has the power, and he has a great future. We will see him here playing for many more years, having good results.”
But Nadal must also have been hugely relieved to put an end to a losing run that stretched all the way back to September’s US Open. His last seven matches had produced only one victory – and even that was a dead rubber against Casper Ruud, a close friend from their shared training base in Mallorca, at November’s ATP Finals.
Look at the statistics for this match and you could see why Nadal has been so vulnerable. He sprayed unforced errors in the second set, and again in the third, while also leaving the ball short with alarming regularity.
Even in the first set, which found Nadal playing at his highest level of the afternoon, Draper could easily have come out on top but for some dubious shot selection. One is tempted to sit him down and echo Brad Gilbert’s words to Andy Murray during their coaching collaboration 15 years ago: “Stop hitting so many damn drop shots”.
If there was a similarity between the two game-styles on show here, that is because Draper emulated Nadal from an early age, even down to his left-handed style. (Remarkably, both men favour their right hand for everything but tennis.) For Nadal, it must have been like looking in a mirror as his heavy topspin forehand came back with just as many revolutions.
The upshot was an attritional contest with an average rally length of almost five shots, some 20 per cent higher than the norm around Melbourne Park. Gradually, the intensity began to tell on Draper, who called the trainer midway through the third set to ask for a massage on his aching hamstrings.
The moment of no return arrived as Draper served at 2-1 in the fourth set. An extraordinary 22-shot rally ensued, in which he attacked the ball with desperate intent. Nadal was forced to cover every inch of court – and yet he would not yield. Draper was unable to chase the final Nadal forehand because his legs had locked up. Again, all credit to his determination to play on until the last point. But when he stared rolling his serve in at 64mph, you knew the game was up.