| Dates: 16-29 January Venue: Melbourne Park |
| Coverage: Commentary every day from 07:00 GMT on Radio 5 Sports Extra ‘Tennis Breakfast’ live from Melbourne, with selected live text commentaries and match reports on the BBC Sport website and app. |
British rising star Jack Draper tested Spain’s Rafael Nadal before cramping issues cost him in a four-set loss in the Australian Open first round.
Draper, 21, levelled at one-set each before 22-time major champion Nadal, 36, secured a 7-5 2-6 6-4 6-1 win.
The world number 38, who has often struggled with physical issues in his burgeoning career, could barely move during the fourth set.
“Physically, I’ll be first to say I’m still a work in progress,” Draper said.
The British number three said he was troubled by cramping all over his body and put that down to being “undercooked” after a disrupted pre-season.
“First it was the legs and then towards the end I started feeling it my ab/rib. When that happens it is almost game over because it completely locks you up,” he said.
“Playing professional tennis at this level is very gruelling so for a young player like myself it will take a lot of time to get it right.
“These are all valuable learning experiences for me and especially playing against someone like Rafa.
“I left it all out there. I tried my best, competed my hardest and proud of how I played. At times I felt I was in a good place to win the match.”
Encouraging for Draper but work still to do
For a good while on Rod Laver Arena it looked as though Draper could cause a stunning upset against a player he described as one of his “heroes”.
His ball-striking caused problems for Nadal throughout, but the physical issues which have dogged the left-hander in the early days of his career returned.
Draper collapsed at the Miami Open in 2021 with a heat-related illness and was also forced to retire from his US Open third-round match last year when in a decent position against Russian 28th seed Karen Khachanov.
This time, he struggled with cramp and needed treatment from the physio in the third set.
By the latter stages of the fourth, Draper – who has risen to 38th in the world after being outside the top 250 last year – was unable to push off on serve.
Developing his body for the rigours of the ATP Tour was the priority for pre-season after hiring former Olympic sprinter and bobsleigher Dejan Vojnovic as a fitness coach.
But two viral infections cost…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at BBC Sport – Tennis…