After 53 days without experiencing the tension, physicality and adrenaline of competing at the highest level of his sport, Jack Draper returned to competition at the US Open with a bruising first-round win that illustrated the challenge of entering a grand slam tournament with suboptimal preparation.
Draper, the fifth seed, dragged himself into the second round with a tough 6-4, 7-5, 6-7 (7), 6-2 win against the qualifier Federico Agustín Gómez. However, he also struggled physically as the match extended in the warm conditions and he threw up during the third set.
Afterwards, Draper said his sickness was not linked to any physical struggles. “I felt physically fine. Potentially a bit of nervous energy. I wasn’t feeling nervous out there. Sometimes I’ve always had some problems with my gut almost. So could be a little bit of just getting out there again, a bit of nervous tension.”
Having been forced to withdraw from a series of tournaments after his painful second-round defeat at Wimbledon with bone bruising on his left arm, Draper described his recovery as a work in progress.
“I’ve definitely had to rein in my serve a little bit to make sure to keep the pain down, that’s for sure,” said Draper. “At the same time, though, I feel like my accuracy is almost a bit better at times. It’s definitely something which is not giving me pain like on my serve and that’s not why I’m doing it, but it’s one of those things where I’m having to ... put it this way, the ramp-up is quite quick to be here, so I couldn’t go full out on the serve the last few weeks. I’ve got used to maybe toning it down a little bit. I’m not serving full out, pretty much.”
As he established a 6-4, 7-5 lead, Draper appeared to be moving towards a comfortable opening win, but he fell down an early break in the third set and vomited on two occasions. Draper fought hard to force a tie-break and pulled himself to match point at 6-5 with the Argentinian serving. With the match on the line, the moment inspired Gómez’s best level as his booming forehands found lines all over the court. After saving Draper’s match point with a 99mph forehand winner, he spectacularly forced a fourth set.
By the beginning of that set Draper’s serve speeds had drastically reduced, his first serve often barely clearing 105mph, and he was tentative with his forehand, potentially a reflection of his caution with his left arm. But his fighting spirit is eternal regardless of how he feels on the court. After three difficult hours in Louis Armstrong Stadium, the British No 1 emerged with his first victory since Wimbledon.
Many tougher challenges await as he tries to find his top level again in New York. For now, the most important thing is that he gave himself a chance to grow into the tournament by ending his afternoon with a win. “I’m not putting too much expectations on myself,” Draper said. “I’ve put in the work. I know if I can get that level back, I’m going to be tough to beat.”
Those low expectations have been dictated by his difficulties over the past few weeks and the fact that he was not always sure he would even be able to compete in New York. Draper had been projected to return to competition after eight weeks, but he has managed to return one week early in time for the US Open.
“I think as I’ve gotten closer to the tournament, me and my team, we’ve had more scans, we’re confident that I’m not doing any more damage to my arm, and I’m in a place where I can go out and compete. It’s not going to set me back, so that’s a real positive. That’s all I can say.”
Cameron Norrie maintained his positive run of form at grand slam tournaments by reaching the second round after his opponent Sebastian Korda retired while Norrie led 7-5, 6-4.
In the women’s draw, an emotional Petra Kvitova said farewell to professional tennis as she fell 6-1, 6-0 in 52 minutes in defeat against Diane Parry of France. A two-time Wimbledon champion, Kvitova had announced that she would retire after the US Open. At 35, the Czech ends her career as one of the greatest players of her generation with two Wimbledon titles and 31 WTA titles.
“I didn’t expect myself [emotional], but since I wake up this morning, I felt it,” Kvitova said. “I felt it would be not good. I couldn’t eat. I was really nervous. But in different way, I would say. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t swing, I couldn’t do anything. It was really difficult.”
