Jack Draper will regret the five break point chances he missed in the crucial final game of his French Open contest with Alexander Bublik. The Kazakh pulled off a huge upset as he sent the No. 5 seed packing in the fourth round, and later admitted he would have “given up” if he had been broken while serving out the match.
Bublik collapsed to the ground in delight when he survived a marathon game to reach his maiden Grand Slam quarter-final and said he felt he only had one chance to win the match.
“You know, sometimes in life, there is only one chance and I had a feeling that was mine and I couldn’t let it slip. Standing here, it’s the best moment of my life, period,” Bublik told the Court Suzanne-Lenglen crowd after sealing a 5-7 6-3 6-3 6-4 victory.
And he meant it, as the world No. 62 later added: “Sometimes I feel like there are a certain of amount of matches I have played in my life, for example, the Halle title that I won, the Roland Garros in doubles that I didn’t, and today’s match, you know, sometimes I have a feeling like there is only one chance.
“If I would get broken, 7-5, 6-2 maximum for me. I would not even try to fight. So I told myself, you have this chance, you do your best. If it doesn’t work, I’m out. In certain moments I do believe there is only one chance.”
Bublik went for big serves, threw in plenty of drop shots, and even got lucky when the ball dribbled over the net cord. And his risk-taking paid off.
“So in that regard, I had simply no other, you know, source. I have to win. So I did my best and it worked well. But as I said, if it wouldn’t, then it’s over,” he explained.
“So that’s how I approach it, and that’s why I played full and I played high risk, because that was the only chance.”
The 27-year-old’s words will only rub salt in Draper’s wounds, however, as the Brit rued his missed opportunities.
“I’m hurt, and for sure I’m really disappointed. I had an opportunity today, and I missed my opportunity, for sure,” the British No. 1 said after losing in the fourth round.
But it’s still been a strong clay season for Draper, who finished runner-up at the Madrid Open, reached the quarter-final in Rome, and broke into the world’s top 50.
He added: “I struggle to put things in perspective, but I think I am proud of the effort that I’ve done on the clay. I think I’ve really improved.
“I think last year I was leaving here, first round loss, being 40 in the world and very disappointed with my tennis and not sure, you know, where I was going with it.
“This year I’m leaving No. 5 in the world. I’ve made the fourth round. I’m playing consistently really good tennis week in and week out. Yeah, I mean, I always use the lessons from my losses. I always use the fuel and the hurt to better myself.”
