Jack Draper admitted he is a “long way behind” top stars Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz after crashing out of the French Open to the world No.62.
And the British No.1 then claimed he cannot wait to get home for the grasscourt season. The world No.5 was shocked 5-7 6-3 6-2 6-4 by Kazakh-born Russian as he followed Cam Norrie out of the tournament.
Draper had been seeded to face his friend and world No.1 Sinner in the quarter-finals while Alcaraz is the defending champion here.
Asked if he was gutted to miss testing himself against the best player in the world, the US Open semi-finalist said: “Big-time, for sure. I still think I’m a long way behind those boys a little bit. I still have lots to learn.
“If you look at probably the ATP matches, how many matches they’ve played, they’ve probably played double the amount that I’ve played. They’re probably a year, two years ahead of me and obviously achieved a lot more, a lot more experience. I do have a lot to do to catch up with them, in all honesty.
“My level is getting better all the time, but it’s not just the tennis. It’s the majority, the consistency of what they’re doing. Even though I’ve been more consistent, it’s doing it when it matters, and these are the tournaments that it matters.
“Yeah, I have a lot to go still to get to them, and I think that I’m working hard, I’m doing the right things, and we’ll see. Yeah, definitely really difficult not to get that opportunity to play a Jannik or whoever is in the court.”
Draper reached the final of the Madrid Masters and won his first ever matches at the French Open. “Although I’m obviously gutted to have lost today and stuff, I’m going to be very happy to get off the clay,” he said. “You know, that’s just a fact.
“I’m really, really proud of my ability to have adapted and to accept the challenge of being on the clay. I was thinking coming into it that I’m going to really show myself this year on the clay and do well. In Monte-Carlo, I played there, and I lost to Fokina. I was thinking, like, This is going to be a disaster.
“Then going week-to-week I’ve really built, and I’ve learned a lot, and I’ve got better. I come here, won three matches, made fourth round. Not probably playing the best tennis that I was playing in Madrid and Rome.
“I’ll be happy to get on a faster surface, a surface that I’m much more comfortable moving on. Yeah, I look forward to being back home, being on the grass, for sure.”
Draper, who is set to break into the world’s top four and be the highest ranked home player at Wimbledon since Andy Murray, added: “I think it will be an experience for me, for sure. I don’t know what to expect. I feel confident. I feel happy. I’ve had a lot of experiences this year where I’m playing Australians in Australia and Frenchies in France.
“There’s not been many places where I have the crowd with me, so that will be nice to hopefully be at home and have the crowd with me. I feel like I’m still playing amazing tennis. Let’s see what I can do there.”
