British No. 2 Jacob Fearnley has defended Jack Draper after he smashed his racket during a frustrated outburst and broke an advertising board on the side of the court at Queen’s. Draper lashed out after getting broken at 5-5 in the final set of his semi-final clash with Jiri Lehecka and received a code violation.
The world No. 6 later said he didn’t condone his behaviour and revealed he had been suffering from tonsillitis. All eyes are on Draper this British grass season and the 23-year-old has been hoping to perform on home soil.
But British Davis Cup teammate Fearnley has claimed that the pressures of being the British No. 1 had nothing to do with his moment of frustration at Queen’s, and suggested that it’s “normal” for a player to have a “moment of weakness”.
The British No. 2, who reached his first ATP Tour quarter-final at Queen’s, said: “Obviously the players are under a lot of pressure and I’m sure Jack is feeling some pressure, but I think that more has something to do with the fact that he was so close to winning.
“He was 5-5 in the third, and he obviously really wants to do well in front of the British fans and he got broken in a pretty crucial moment and Jiri was serving really good, so he probably thought that it was over.
“And I also saw that he said he was feeling a bit sick so that’s going to have an effect on your mental state and I’m sure he just had a moment of weakness and lashed out, and that’s, I think it’s extremely normal.
“I mean, you see players doing it all the time and then I think it was more just the situation he was in, in the match. Not necessarily to do with all the pressure of playing at home. I don’t think it was anything really to do with that. I hope the board’s all right.”
Draper, who had tonsillitis during his run to the semi-final at Queen’s, later called out his own behaviour and explained that he was trying to get his energy up.
“[It was] a bit of everything, really. The way I sort of playing at times. Obviously the fact that, you know, I have worked so hard to get myself in that position. You know, I really tried to get myself up, get the energy going,” he said of his outburst.
“You know, when you see that ball go past you on that point, you know, it’s very tough to see yourself breaking the next game, although I tried my best on that.
“I don’t condone obviously that behaviour, but at the same time, that’s kind of where I was at today. I was trying to use everything I could. I tried to compete every ball. But in the end, anger just spilled over a little bit too much.”
Draper will now take some time to rest before heading to Wimbledon, where he will be a top four seed and will avoid facing Jannik Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz until the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, Fearnley is playing in Eastbourne, where he faces No. 5 seed Flavio Cobolli in round one.