“How old is he, 18? It’s very impressive.” Despite the ease with which he won his two clashes with João Fonseca, Jack Draper says he doesn’t delude himself: it will be increasingly difficult to defeat the Brazilian.
“I’m 23. So he just needs time. It’s already among the 50 best in the world. He’s doing amazing things, and his experience and everything else will only grow with more matches, more experience playing against the best players, more time practicing the game. He will only be scary.
Draper recalled that in his previous victory over Fonseca, in March, in Indian Wells, the weather conditions were very hot, which makes the ball faster and favors his game. At the time, it made 6/4 and 6/0. In Roland Garros, in a better dispute of five sets, made 6/2, 6/4 and 6/2.
“I feel that the two times I played against him was hot and I managed to make the ball rise. He is someone who likes to hit hard. When the ball is here at the shoulder height,” he said, making his hand gesture, “it’s harder to keep hitting Winners and going after the ball.”
The Briton abused the drop shots, the short balls during the game, almost always successfully. He swore he doesn’t train this move (“the more training, worse I get”). But he said he felt that, especially at the end of the second set and during the third, the Brazilian was no longer able to climb the network to reach the left.
For Draper, Fonseca’s rise is a matter of gaining experience.
“The times I played against John, he came very aggressive and physical, and I managed to get ball after ball. So he may feel that he needed to do too much. But I think it’s just experience, time and experience, because you’ve been through it before and you’ll get it again.”
