Young Briton has struggled with injuries all year but since his return before the US Open he has quickly found his level
As Jack Draper crumpled into a chair and covered his face after an afternoon of high-octane, quality tennis concluded in disappointment in the opening stanza of Great Britain’s 2-0 defeat to Serbia, his despair was clear for all to see. With Novak Djokovic looming in the second rubber of their Davis Cup quarter-final tie, practically every spectator in Málaga’s sold-out Palacio de los Deportes José María Martín Carpena was aware how essential the first was.
After two bitter tiebreaks, the match had escaped him. But Draper had not taken many wrong steps on the court. He had fought tooth and nail to remain in the opening set before his level dropped in the tiebreak, then he had performed strongly until the end of a second set that came down to a couple of points.