Jack Draper insists he can still be a contender for the US Open despite concerns over an arm problem.
The world number five arrived in New York without having played a match for more than seven weeks after being diagnosed with bone bruising in his left humerus.
Draper admitted after battling to a four-set win over Federico Agustin Gomez in the first round on Monday that he had feared he would not make it, with the 23-year-old pushing the expected recovery time of eight weeks.
He served conservatively, with his speeds well down on the numbers he was hitting on his way to the semi-finals last year.
It was still good enough for Draper to progress to round two and his high seeding at least buys him some time to pick things up.
“The arm for me is not a question mark,” Draper told the PA news agency.
“It’s more been my preparation for the tournament, how quickly am I going to be able to get back to playing top level on the hard courts, like I was at the start of the year.
“It was never going to be perfect and match by match I’m going to grow in confidence.
“I’m never someone who has lots of expectations on myself anyway. I’m someone who goes match by match and usually, because of my preparation, because of different things, it works out.
“I’d never enter one of these tournaments if I was here just to play a couple of matches – I wouldn’t play. I’m here to hopefully go a long way in this draw and I believe I can still.”
The next test pits him against unseeded Belgian Zizou Bergs on Thursday.
The 26-year-old, who was named after former France football great Zinedine Zidane, is at a career-high ranking of 48 but also goes into the clash looking for form after a poor run over the last couple of months.
They have met once before at tour level, in the first round of Wimbledon three years ago when Draper won in straight sets, and a repeat would give the British number one a real platform to build from.
