Pumped-up Draper loses battle to be head boy
HIS swagger and attitude had Court No 1 bouncing but it wasn’t to be for Jack Draper, and Wimbledon’s wait for a first British boys’ singles champion since 1962 continues. The teenager threw it all at Chun Hsin Tseng but the Taiwanese top seed showed his world junior No 1 mettle, winning their final 6-1, 6-7, 6-4 in two hours and six minutes. Indeed, Draper was the first player to take a set off him at the Championships. The charismatic 6ft 2in lefthander who only completed his GCSEs pre-Wimbledon said: ‘Having that many people watching me was surreal. The sense of the occasion — I embraced that in the second set. It gives me immense confidence. It’s been an unbelievable week.’ Draper plans to transition into the professional game over the next year. His father, former Lawn Tennis Association chief executive Roger Draper, was not at the most important match of his son’s life so far. It is believed their relationship is strained with his parents now divorced. What Jack’s dad missed was a gripping contest between two 16-year-olds hitting winners that defied their ages. Draper’s adrenaline was pumping. He threw fists in the air after clinching points, instructed the crowd to make more noise, did a dance towards his box for simply holding a serve. Cocky, say some, but the spectators on Court No 1 loved it. ‘I have those celebrations ready, I practise them,’ joked Draper, who also received a code violation for smashing a racket. The last British boy to win Wimbledon juniors was Stanley Matthews, son of the famed England footballer of the same name — 39 years before Draper had even been born.