🎥 WATCH ABOVE: Jack Draper’s double-bounce controversy in Cincy ⤴️
It took just one tournament for that player, Jack Draper, to begin filling the oversize shoes that Britain’s last tennis hero, Andy Murray, left behind. Murray played his last major event at Wimbledon two months ago. On Wednesday, Draper made his first major semifinal at the Open, with a surprisingly straightforward 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 win over Alex de Minaur.
If you didn’t know before, you never would have suspected that Draper was 0-3 against de Minaur coming into this match. The lefty Brit took easy control of the action with his serve (he hit 11 aces), forehand (he hit 40 winners to de Minaur’s 21), and evolving net game (he was 18 of 25 there). Draper was in cruise control in the first and third sets, but when de Minaur made a push in the second, Draper upped his own intensity and didn’t let him get a foot in the door.
In fairness to de Minaur, he wasn’t 100 percent physically. Afterward, like a good Aussie, he didn’t want to be caught making excuses, so he didn’t say exactly what was wrong. But he did allow that he had been hampered.
“I wish I felt better, let’s just put it that way,” de Minaur said. “It’s tough. It’s a big opportunity. It’s a big chance.”
