Jack Draper’s next French Open opponent Alexander Bublik says the British star’s rise to the top is “insane”.
Fifth seed Draper takes on Kazakhstan’s world No 62 in the fourth round on Monday.
“Jack for me is insane. I mean, last year the guy is 40 in the world. This year he is top five in the world,” said Bublik.
“That’s a crazy achievement. He doesn’t seem to stop, so I mean, what do I have to do to beat him? I don’t know.
“I will just go there, enjoy the time, show what I’m capable of showing, and we all know what I’m capable of doing on court and then we see how it goes.
“This is the approach I have now, and Jack is a great sportsman, great person.”
Draper, 23, has played Bublik twice on the ATP Tour, beating him at Queen’s Club in 2021 and in Adelaide last year.
“I know him since I played him in the qualifiers of Queen’s in 2018 or something (a three-set win for Bublik in 2019). He was a little kid,” added Bublik.
“Then when he beat me in Queen’s, and he told me ‘I finally got you’. I said ‘let’s speak when you’re in the top 50’, because he was like 300 in the world, and now he’s top five.
“So now I have to have some courage to play, and we’ll see how it goes.”
There will be a likely quarter-final meeting with world number one Jannik Sinner for the winner.
Cameron Norrie has ticked off a career milestone having reached the fourth round of every grand slam.
The 29-year-old has beaten Daniil Medvedev, Federico Gomez and Jacob Fearnley in Saturday evening’s battle of Britain to set up a meeting with 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic.
Norrie, who has endured a rough couple of years which has seen his ranking drop from top 10 to 81, said: “To make the second week for the first time is so, so good and at a time where I was not really stringing a lot of matches and a lot of wins together.
“I was able to build from the momentum that I’ve really struggled to get from the last year and a half, for different reasons.
“So I think it was really fun and a really good week so far, and there’s still plenty of tennis to be played, which I’m excited for.
“I’ve just been enjoying my tennis, and I think I wanted to do that again. Another chance to play a really competitive match against one of the best players in the world at the moment.”
PA
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