THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 28, 2022

Jack Draper

Press Conference

J. DRAPER/Z. Bergs

6-4, 6-4, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Jack, give us your thoughts on the match.

JACK DRAPER: Yeah, it was a tough one. It was a tough match. Felt like Zizou is someone who is quite a dangerous player. He's someone I've known from the challengers. He's quite flairy. He can play some incredible tennis, then he can play some quite loose tennis. Overall he's a great competitor, a tough player to play against.

Glad with the way I came through the match. Obviously this is my first sort of Grand Slam on merit, main-draw win. I'm obviously very happy. Yeah, these are all good new experiences for me and glad to get the win today.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. As you say, your first main-draw win at a slam. Seems like a pretty big milestone. I'm sure it's one you've been feeling you could do for quite a while.

JACK DRAPER: Definitely. It is pretty different out there, playing a five-set match, knowing that after you win the second, you still got a long way to go potentially.

But, no, this is what I want to do. I want to have a great career, especially in Grand Slams. I know this is just a start, and hopefully I can keep on going from here.

Q. When Ryan was in earlier, he talked about the camaraderie between the British players. You may have just seen that Ali also won as well. That's five men through. Do you get a sense of a link between being a bit of a team?

JACK DRAPER: Yeah, definitely. That's a big thing in British tennis at the moment. All these guys are all my friends, as well. Not only do we practice together, we go out together, we have a good time. All great guys. All want to improve and keep learning and get to the top of the sport.

I think the LTA has done an unbelievable job of cultivating that as well for the players. Yeah, I like we're all getting behind each other, want each other to do well. That's a big part of the success at the moment.

Q. Is any one of you the leader of the group who organizes socials or is there a more fluid way of doing stuff?

JACK DRAPER: No, I think we're all on our own journeys. Being tennis players, always away from home. Whenever we're in the UK, we get together and I suppose we chat on a day-to-day basis when we're training. We can always organize stuff.

But, no, I mean, it's a tough sport, tennis. I think it's better to work as a team, even though it is an individual sport.

Q. You've obviously had that great run in the juniors going back a few years. Can you contrast what that was like to the achievement of today.

JACK DRAPER: Yeah, I mean, in the juniors, it was quite funny. When I actually had a run here, I played lots of Grand Slam junior events and I never really kicked on and done well in the tournaments because I got too nervous or whatever.

I'd say it's a good feeling to be able to come here, get a main draw match in the men's. It's very different to the juniors. Obviously the juniors is two sets. It's on the second week of Wimbledon, so it's a bit of a different feel. Obviously the level is completely different as well.

Yeah, definitely proud of myself that I'm able to come here a few years later and get my first main-draw win on merit.

Q. On the level, over the last few weeks it looks like your level is going about the pace you want it to? Are you happy where you are at the moment?

JACK DRAPER: Definitely been working with my team and my coach, James, trying to keep on improving that all the time. I think that's our mentality, that every week, every day I'm improving. On the grass I started off always trying to adapt. Last week I felt like I had a really good, positive week at Eastbourne.

I come here confident. I'm ready to hopefully do some damage in this tournament. I believe in my ability. So let's see how far I can do.

Q. You got Alex de Minaur next. Talk about how you see that matchup, the experience of playing on one of the bigger courts here as well.

JACK DRAPER: Yeah, Alex is someone who has been around for a long time. I think people forget he's still very young. He's a great competitor, incredibly quick, good on grass courts, as well. It's going to be a really tough match. I think I can use my weapons and hopefully play well.

In terms of what kind of court it's on, yeah, I mean, I think I've got experience of playing on big courts now. I look forward to hopefully playing on a big court. If not, still Wimbledon, so...

I look forward to the match.

Q. You spoke last week about building up the physicality for five-set matches. You had a busy week last week at Eastbourne. Given the punishing schedule what you're planning to do to mentally and physically relax. Do you have a routine, something you like to watch to calm down?

JACK DRAPER: Yeah, I mean, I suppose when you're playing quite long matches you got to try and look after your nutrition, try and turn off from tennis I think in the Grand Slams. I like tennis as well, I always want to watch it, I always want to be involved. I think it's important to sort of switch off from that as well.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll just try to just come, do my stuff, then leave, and just try to get mentally prepared for two days' time.

So, yeah, I think for me it's just about trying to switch off and get away from all the noise, then come back on in a couple days and do the job.

Q. How do you like to switch off?

JACK DRAPER: Try and watch Netflix. I'm not very good at switching off unfortunately. But, yeah, just try and maybe do a bit of reading. I don't know, just try not be around the tennis too much. I think that's important as any player, just to not be fully engaged with it the whole time because it's quite tiring.

Yeah, just do normal stuff.

Q. Did you get a chance to watch any of the Brits yesterday?

JACK DRAPER: Yeah, I watched a bit of Emma and Andy. I thought they played amazing on Centre Court. Obviously this morning I've been able to watch a bit of Ryan win on the same court I was on, because I was obviously keeping track of his match to see what time I potentially go on.

Yeah, definitely seeing them win fired me up and I was ready to go.

Q. Watching from home?

JACK DRAPER: I'm staying in a hotel this week. I prefer to be in the hotel. Just in tournament mode.

Q. Have you always liked playing on the big courts or something maybe you had to learn how to cope with?

JACK DRAPER: Yeah, I mean, when you come out of the rankings in the futures and challengers, you're definitely not playing in front of a lot of people. Maybe like one person. It's totally different.

I think I've been quite lucky at a young age, I think in the final of juniors I played on Court 1. Obviously last year I got the experience of playing Djokovic on Centre. I think quite young in my career I've been able to play on some big courts, which maybe other people haven't experienced.

So it's something weird, something I've never struggled with. I love it. I like to express myself and my tennis. So, yeah.

Q. You say watching the others fired you up. To what degree did you tap into the energy of the British success here?

JACK DRAPER: Yeah, massively. Like I said earlier, I think it's important in British tennis as well that we all work as a team to drive each other forward. I'm a competitor myself. Definitely seeing others do well, even though I'm really happy for them, it definitely motivates me and gets me going. I want to match that and do better.

I think the energy in British tennis at the moment is really good, really healthy competition for all the players.

Q. Do you feel, I hesitate to use the phrase 'golden generation' coming through, but do you feel there's a special crop now coming through?

JACK DRAPER: Yeah, I think there's a fair few players, some around the same age, same ranking bracket as well. I hope that we can just keep pushing each other to do better.

I wouldn't say it's a golden age or anything. There's a lot of good players coming through and we can all help each other to improve and rise up the rankings.