Jack Draper won’t get ‘too high’ after stunning Carlos Alcaraz at Queen’s

Jack Draper admitted he would not get carried away after stunning Carlos Alcaraz in their round two match at Queen’s – with less than 24 hours until his quarter-final clash.

New British No 1 Draper shocked reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion Alcaraz 7-6(3), 6-3 in front of his home crowd – ending the Spaniard’s Queen’s title defence.

Draper may well go into his next match as favourite, with fifth seed Tommy Paul his quarter-final opponent.

World No 13 Paul is 18 spots above the Brit in the ATP Rankings and beat Draper at the Australian Open in January, but the world No. 31 has won their three other meetings – including two contests this year.

With that match taking place on Friday, Draper admitted that he would not be celebrating this victory.

He said: “I’m thinking match by match. Obviously, it’s amazing to beat someone like Carlos, and that’s great, but in tennis, you’ve got to go again the next day. I’ve got to go again tomorrow against another great player in Tommy Paul.

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“I’m not going to get too high on this win. It’s nice to reflect on things when you’re done with the week and the wins you have had.

“My main priority right now is to make sure I’m doing everything I can to be best prepared for tomorrow, because everyone at this level, if you’re not quite on your game, they can beat you.

“It’s really important for me to be better for tomorrow, and if I keep putting my game on the court, then I’m giving myself a good chance to win the match.”

It has been a whirlwind few days for Draper, with his run at Queen’s coming just days after claiming the first title of his career at the Stuttgart Open – beating former Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini.

That run helped propel him to the British No 1 ranking, and he could well be inside the top 30 of the ATP Rankings for the first time next week if results continue to go his way.

Recent results are in stark contrast to his clay court form, where he struggled to close out matches and lost in the opening round at Roland Garros.

And his Alcaraz win is worlds away from where he was a year ago, with an injured Draper forced to miss the 2023 grass court season due to injury issues.

“It kind of feels obviously like a bit of an overnight success, but I have been working for so many years now,” he conceded.

“After my injuries last year, I really started to fully invest in my tennis mentally, physically, emotionally.

“I was living it every day and it is all I think about since September last year. I have been really, really making so many sacrifices and putting in the work all the time.

“So even though it’s come together in the last sort of two weeks this is not overnight. This is years of doing it.

“I’m really happy with how it’s come together the last couple of weeks, especially at this time, on the grass in front of home crowds.

“Hopefully I can carry on this momentum and keep on building.”

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