Jack Draper Needs To Activate Crowd More After Putting Away Popyrin

Jack Draper was a man in a hurry on the first day at Queen’s Club when he won in 77 minutes. The next blockignment was more in keeping with the duration of a 007 movie.

Alexei Popyrin is hovering just outside the ATP top 20 rankings and took the first set off Draper before the number two seed roared back to win 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) in two hours and 13 minutes. That was half an hour less than No Time To Die and the plot was as creaky as Daniel Craig’s last outing. Draper survives to meet Brandon Nakashima in the quarterfinals.

Draper’s own set of movie moments are growing as he prepares to take the next leap forward after making the U.S. Open semifinals last September. Jannik Sinner was too strong that day, but that run moved him into the top 20. He had climbed to as high as no. 4 with a superb Indian Wells title, including another win over Carlos Alcaraz, and a run to the Madrid Open final too. The speed of the rise has been impressive although his performance against Popyrin won’t be remembered for its aesthetics.

Draper’s work ethic is well-known, but he lacked a little pizazz in the first act of the last 16 clash with the Australian. Truth be told, the match didn’t hold a candle anything to the Taylor Fritz and Corentin Moutet tussle on Tuesday evening. That was easily the most engaging melodrama of the week so far.

Things started to flicker into life in the eighth game when Popyrin found an extra gear in his service returns, breaking Draper to love. When the 25-year-old was in the middle of serving it out, a breeze picked up and blew hats, paper, and even some of the foam rubber of the hoardings onto the court. It brough the loudest cheer of the set. Although the Canadian Open champion served two doubles after everything was cleared, he found an ace with the third attempt to take the opener.

Draper was getting agitated and shouted at himself at 2-2 when he threw a double fault in. The vocal release worked as the British No. 1 won the next four games to take things into a decider. The third set plodded on with consistent serving until Popyrin found himself 15-40 at 4-5. He survived and the match inevitably drifted to a match tiebreak.

Draper couldn’t get the afterburners going today and will have to work on his touch shots a little for Wimbledon. There wasn’t a huge amount of creativity involved in breaking Popyrin who rather handed the second set to his opponent on a sliver platter. The heat courtside was surely a factor too given both player’s physicality in service games.

One thing that the big-serving Londoner might want to think about is rallying the crowd. There hasn’t been much of that at the private West Kensington club. Wimbledon’s lawns will be just as smooth but the noise more raucous at times. Draper certainly gestured for more at 4-4 in the breaker and found an astonishing backhand ripper to set up match point. He needs to avoid the long slugfests to truly thrive at SW19.

“There’s days where I need that extra support, today was one of them. Tough match and credit to Alexei. It was a bit up and down but you guys helped me through that so thank you,” said the 23-year-old in the immediate courtside interview.

British newspapers are getting excited about Draper’s chances to land his home Slam. A few more Andy Murray-style fist pumps could activate the crowd.