AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 19, 2025

Jack Draper

Press Conference

C. ALCARAZ/J. Draper

7-5, 6-1 [Ret.]

THE MODERATOR: Jack, bad luck about today. How are you feeling? Tough conditions on court. What can you share with us now?

JACK DRAPER: Yeah, I mean, just I think after how much I have played, I didn't pull up amazingly well. I was really, really sore after I played my last match. You know, obviously managing this hip thing, which have been managing the last week or so. Have done actually, I mean, wasn't expecting to come this far, actually, in all honesty. Obviously with all the hours I have played, been a bit too much on my body.

I felt like today, you know, from the first couple of games, I felt like everything getting worse. Yeah, not ideal to end this way.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Can you tell us what the injury is and how long you have had it, how it manifests when you're out there, where you feel the pain?

JACK DRAPER: Yeah, essentially I had tendinitis in my hip, which I had to get MRI looked at and stuff. I have had a history of problems in that area. Like, it hasn't gone away. I'm still dealing with that.

Obviously in the preseason, it into my back and I couldn't walk and it was really difficult. I have come here and I have been managing that.

You know, I have been unbelievably surprised with how much I have been able to play and put my body through, more than I have ever done before, especially.

So, yeah, I think it's just one of those things, just massive overload. This area of my body, you know, if I don't get that right and I don't make good decisions, you know, I don't want to miss three or four months because of that, you know.

Q. At what point did you decide enough was enough?

JACK DRAPER: From the third game I felt like it was getting worse. Actually woke up this morning, didn't feel too bad. When I got out there, and the Carlos' intensity, I think it's such a spot in sport you're putting your body in positions all the time. I'm someone who throws my body around, gives it my all sort of thing.

You know, from the third game, I felt like I sort of had multiple areas that were, you know, really in pain, and especially the hip.

Q. Any question you might not play at all?

JACK DRAPER: I mean, we were managing it, like I didn't feel amazing before my last match, but obviously got out there and it felt okay. Maybe it's a little bit of a ticking time bomb, considering I had no preparation and no work for my body.

To come here, like, I think I have really surprised myself with how much I have been able to put myself through.

Q. What about is it a complete unknown how it will go from here, or do you sort of feel like you have some idea how long it will take or what to do with it?

JACK DRAPER: Yeah, I mean, I think, firstly, I'm going to have to clear up the tendinitis I've got. You know, there is two ways you can do that. There's obviously by doing rehab or maybe there's an injection you can have into that area to help it. I opted to do the rehab. But obviously, yeah, it hasn't cleared too much. Maybe I'll see what I can do with that.

I don't think, yeah, like it's not, like, a long-term thing at all. I just need to be sensible, because, you know, there is no escape from it, especially, like, here or whatever, you know, the tennis schedule is so tight.

So obviously I had to miss Sydney, but then it's straight here, I've got obviously lots of events coming up. I want to have a good, consistent year. I have been on a good run in the last 18 months, been relatively injury-free, and that's allowed me to play the tennis I want to play and play well in these big tournaments and all those sorts of things.

I don't want to get myself in a position where I'm sort of, you know, just kind of playing through pain and playing through injury, like, I want to be able to show up to these events and give it my best shot and have the right preparation I need.

Q. Can you outline for us, in terms of the preseason you did have, was it full days, full out, or did you get a couple of weeks? How much time did you actually have where you could train?

JACK DRAPER: Probably about, like, when I came here, four days before the tournament I started playing points. So yeah, I mean, I had a couple weeks off after Paris. Then I went into preseason. Did about a week's preseason, and this happened. Then I didn't play for about two-and-a-half, three weeks. Then came here.

Started the preparation ten days before. Only started playing points about, what day did I play -- I played on Monday or Tuesday, so I would have started playing points on Saturday probably.

So, I mean, considering everything, you know, I'm incredibly proud of my efforts. My tennis has been pretty bang-average. The whole week, you know, it's been really poor, actually, but, like, it's been my competitiveness, my fight, and my desire to win. That's got me into the last 16 of a Grand Slam, which is something I'm very proud of.

Q. You take pride of that, but how disappointing is it to go out on one of the sport's biggest stages and not be able to perform how you want to be able to perform?

JACK DRAPER: Yeah, it's really difficult. Any chance I get to play Carlos or someone of his caliber, you know, it's a great opportunity for me to show him about, show that I can be a top player, as well, and be at their level. You know, these are the type of matches I want to be a part of and win and go deep in these big events.

It's tough to do that obviously with the amount of tennis I have played and I have sort of put through my body, especially against someone like him, because you kind of need that explosiveness. You need to feel good about yourself. Obviously when you're really struggling, it's not ideal at all.

Yeah, it's really disappointing, and I never like to pull out. I'm someone who likes to give my all for everything, but I'm aware with injuries, especially in the past, like, I just want to make right decisions, you know, because I don't want months out. I want to be able to hopefully be able to play and get consistent, get consistent in my body and everything again.

Q. You said a few times about making the right decisions. In the long term there's a benefit, or would you be prepared to take some time out?

JACK DRAPER: I mean, it's not really about the timeout, like it's about, you know, there is such short windows in tennis to get your body right.

You know, you don't want to just sort of spike your load so much, and that's kind of what I have done here, and that's why I got injured. All tennis injuries or most injuries in sport, unless it's a freak accident, is all load management.

If you do too much too soon, if I went and hit a thousand serves tomorrow, I'd probably have an ab strain because I have done so much in one day. Everything is load management.

Obviously here I have come and I played a ridiculous amount of tennis and I have broken down. The key to stay injury-free and being consistent is, yeah, having that consistency in your body time where you're injury-free, time to train, time to get your body right. If you're dealing with injuries and playing through pain and taking painkillers and doing all that, then it's not ideal.

Obviously you're always going to have stress through your body and stuff, but it's important for me to obviously just get my training load back up again, get this tendinitis or whatever I have going on sorted, so I can be consistent with everything that I'm doing again.

Q. How many painkillers were you taking? And ab injuries have become common in tennis. Were you worried about that sort of thing?

JACK DRAPER: I think everyone is moving so well and everyone is hitting the ball so hard, they're obviously, with the amount of tournaments and with the amount of tennis that we play and constantly putting our body under stress and under a lot of strain when we're moving, yeah, it's a really, really difficult one, you know, for the hips and for the body, because you just wear and tear the whole time.

Especially, like, big guys, as well, we're good movers, we're kind of throwing our body around and putting ourselves in awkward positions, it's not easy.

My hip, maybe a little bit, but that's just the sport. Everyone's got their own areas where they struggle more than others, and that's my area that I'm going to have to look after and manage for probably the rest of my career.

Yeah, that's it, really. Like, I'll just manage it the best I can, and hopefully get on a run where look after where I'm not playing with pain and be all right, and yeah, not take painkillers.

Q. How many painkillers...

JACK DRAPER: All the time, you know. A lot. Yeah, a lot.