By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday July 3, 2025
Jack Draper still hasn’t been past the second round at Wimbledon in four main draw appearances, and he entered this year’s tournament as a Top-5 player for the first time, with the weight of a nation’s dreams on his shoulders.
That’s a lot to deal with for a 23-year-old who is relatively new to being a superstar, but Draper says the increased attention and the expectations that come with it had nothing to do with today’s four-set loss to Marin Cilic.
“It’s not the pressure, it’s not whatever. I just didn’t play good enough today. I lost to a better player,” he said.
Draper, who owns one grass title, and entered today with a 19-8 lifetime record on grass, has turned heads with some of his results on grass. He won the Stuttgart title last year then defeated Carlos Alcaraz at Queen’s Clubs. This year he reached the semifinals at Queen’s despite dealing with tonsillitis.
But he says that people are getting ahead of themselves when it comes to his grass-court prowess.
“I think there’s a bit of a misconception, just because I’m a 6′ 4″ lefty, I must be incredible on grass,” said Draper. “I obviously won Stuttgart, but I haven’t had loads of experience on it. I don’t think I played incredibly well on it before. I’ve never gone past the second round here.
“I’m obviously very determined to change that and make it a surface that is going to be great for me. I feel like that’s the way with every surface. When you have the mindset of, even though I don’t feel comfortable, I’m going to make it happen, I’m going to make it better for me, it usually works. That’s what I did on the clay this year.”
Draper says he was disappointed with his grass season from front to back this year. He never really found his groove on surface. And he often alluded to the fact that he felt he was having trouble handling pace on his forehand side, which led to him giving up real estate in rallies.
“I’ve been really disappointed with the way my game’s been on the grass this year, in all honesty,” Draper said. “I wasn’t feeling too great at Queen’s. I don’t know how I made the semis there and gave myself a chance of making the final. “It highlighted to me this year that I really struggled on the grass. I felt great on the hard, felt great on the clay. My game, I felt like there weren’t many holes, whereas, as soon as I came onto the grass, I felt a big difference. So it’s just something that I’ve got to keep in mind, how I’m going to develop my game for the long-term for next year.”
In the end, Draper took time to praise 36-year-old Cilic, who showed vintage form and crushed 53 winners on the day.
“He’s been Top 10 for many, many years. He’s always been someone who’s just been the ultimate pro and can play incredible,” Draper said of Cilic. “I don’t play many people on the Tour that I feel like they completely bully me and take the racquet out of my hand.”
