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Jack Draper admitted his grass court game needs significant improvement if he is to redress his miserable Wimbledon record, after he was dumped out in the second round for the third time in a row.
‘I've been really disappointed with the way my game's been on the grass this year, in all honesty,’ said the No4 seed after losing in four sets to 36-year-old Croat Marin Cilic on No1 Court.
‘I wasn't feeling too great at Queen's. I don't know how I made the semis there.
‘This year I really struggled on the grass. I felt great on the hard, felt great on the clay, I felt like there weren’t many holes in my game, whereas as soon as I came on to the grass, I felt a big difference.
‘It highlighted a lot of weaknesses in my game, especially against a player the way he was playing today, someone as good as him on the grass.
‘I think the hole in my forehand showed up, for sure. I wasn't able to deal with his pace of ball into my forehand. I was over-spinning a lot. I think a lot of my success this year with my forehand was when I have more time and I can create the speed and the spin that I want.’
Jack Draper admitted he is 'really disappointed' with his grass-court game after losing again
The No 4 seed said he 'really struggled' as he was knocked out of the second round at Wimbledon again, this time by Marin Cilic
Cilic, 36, has had two knee surgeries in the last couple of years and had not been at the last three editions of the SW19 tournament
Asked whether the pressure of expectation, as the British No1, played a part, Draper replied: ‘It makes me think Andy's achievement of what he did winning here twice, just unbelievable.
‘But it's not the pressure, I just didn't play good enough today.
‘There's a bit of a misconception that just because I'm a 6ft 4in lefty, I must be incredible on grass. I obviously won Stuttgart last year but I haven't had loads of experience on it.
‘I don't think I played incredibly well on it before. Obviously I've never gone past the second round here.
‘I'm 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.’
With Draper’s exit, the British challenge rests with Emma Raducanu, Sonay Kartal and Cam Norrie, all of whom play on Friday.
‘We still have British hope,’ said Draper. ‘Emma is playing great, I hope she goes on and does us all proud. She's definitely got the capability to do that.
‘Cam, Sonay, these guys are going to be flying the flag now. I think they're incredible players, they all want it so badly. I know them all personally. They're all great people, great players. They deserve everything they're going to get. I'm looking forward to definitely watching them play…maybe I'll try to stay away from it, in all honesty, because it hurts badly, but I want them to have amazing success. They deserve that for sure.’
