Draper stays calm ahead of Djokovic showdown
IT turns out that Jack Draper’s appearance at Queen’s last week was just the beginning of his crash course in big-time tennis. Meeting and beating two top-40 players was a mere warm-up for the Surrey teenager, who now comes up against the colossus on the most prestigious stage of them all.
Novak Djokovic, in imperious form, will be the young wildcard’s opponent on his debut in the main draw, on Centre Court, where the defending champion will open up Monday’s proceedings in traditional fashion.
The start is being delayed by half an hour until 1.30pm to allow for crowd-flow management, but the 19 year-old will be one half of a hallowed sporting occasion.
Draper restricted himself to a low-key reaction yesterday, saying: ‘I’m very excited to be playing on the biggest stage in tennis against Wimbledon’s defending champion and the world No 1. Looking forward to getting out there.’
While his is the most daunting of tasks against the strong favourite to win the whole event, the truth is there may be worse circumstances in which to meet the player who is on course to be the greatest of all time.
A slick, new grass court can be something of a leveller and may suit the impressive array of weapons that lefthander Draper displayed until Cam Norrie ended his run at Queen’s.
There was not much sign of fear from Draper there. He has little to lose and priceless experience to gain before a supportive crowd on Monday.
Even a supreme mover and athlete like Djokovic might take a little time to adjust to the virgin surface.
He only arrived on Thursday night from Mallorca, where he had chosen the unusual build-up of playing doubles — partially to delay entry to the cloying Wimbledon bubble he expects to inhabit for 18 days.
Clearly, it is an intimidating draw for Draper — but probably would not have been at the top of Djokovic’s wishlist either.
The 34-year-old Serb is so pumped full of belief that you would expect the GB singles players to be long gone by the time he is finished at SW19.
The home contingent were mainly handed tough, if intriguing, match-ups in yesterday’s draw.
Bristol’s Katie Swan, world ranked 290, came through the nerve-shredding final qualifying round yesterday to make it nine women in a draw that lost defending champion Simona Halep, who yesterday succumbed
I’m excited to be playing against the defending champion
to a calf injury sustained last month.
Having beaten Australia’s Ariana Rodionova 6-0, 6-4, Swan was paired against American Madison Keys and is guaranteed a minimum £48,000 pay day.
There are six British men in the singles and Dan Evans, seeking to replicate his regular tour form at the Grand Slams, was given the awkward task of removing Feliciano Lopez.
The veteran Spaniard much prefers the grass to clay and won Queen’s in 2019.
He has been around for so long that he was the last player to beat Tim Henman at Wimbledon, in the 2007 second round.
Norrie, winner of 29 tour matches in 2021, will be up against Frenchman Lucas Pouille, who has struggled with injuries in the past year.
In the third round, Norrie could meet Roger Federer, who will have been pleased to find himself in the opposite half of the draw to Djokovic. British women’s No 1 Jo Konta, who has sat out the grass court season since winning the Viking Open in Nottingham to protect her knees, starts against world No 76 Katerina Siniakova.
Konta could go on to meet top seed Ash Barty of Australia in round three.
Yorkshire’s Fran Jones, given a wildcard after she qualified for February’s Australian Open, was given a high-profile match against Coco Gauff.
The 17-year-old American is back on an upward trajectory and returns to where she made such a splash two years ago when reaching the last 16.
Looking at the difficult prospective third-round ties — and with Murray such an unknown quantity — it would take an optimist to predict a Brit making the second week.
However, with the French Open moving back a week, this year’s grass court preparation has been limited, so stand by for plenty of surprises.