Outspoken pundit John McEnroe admitted the ‘expectations’ he’d put on Jack Draper may have contributed to his early exit at Wimbledon. Britain’s best male hope turned in a below-par display on Court No.1 to lose to Croatian veteran Marin Cilic.
The 36-year-old controlled much of the contest against the world No.4 to prevail 6-4 6-3 1-6 6-4. Despite a potentially nightmare draw, Draper had been considered a strong contender at SW19 to land a first Grand Slam title. However, BBC commentator now McEnroe believes the pressure proved too much for the 23-year-old.
“It looked to me early on, I was watching on the monitor a lot of the match, that Jack looked tight,” he said. “I’m not surprised he was tight.
“There were a lot of people with expectations, including myself, that he is a challenger and a contender for the first time. Maybe he thought he could actually do it, and so that was putting pressure on himself.”
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McEnroe did praise the performance of 2017 finalist Cilic, who arrived in London as the world No.82. The American also implied that even if Draper had prevailed, it was unlikely he would have gone the distance.
“Draper was supposed to play Novak in the quarters, so that’s sort of opened it up. Just think what Draper would have had to do – beat Djokovic, Sinner and Alcaraz. I don’t think he was quite there yet to win it.”
However, in his post-match press conference, Draper hit back at suggestions he was affected by expectation, arguing: “You guys keep mentioning the pressure, but I was just beaten by the better player. I lost because I wasn’t good enough.”
Cilic, a 2014 US Open champion will now play unseeded Spaniard Jaume Munar in the third round on Saturday. The 28-year-old has also caused an upset at Wimbledon, shocking 28th seed Alexander Bublik in his opening match.
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