Jack Draper's Wimbledon exit exposes myth around British players on grass, writes MATTHEW LAMBWELL... he is finding out that Andy Murray really is the most difficult act to follow

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Having hit very few of the right shots against Marin Cilic, Jack Draper hit all the right notes in his press conference on Thursday evening. 

He fronted up and got at the truth of why he had failed our expectations so comprehensively by falling at the second hurdle of the Wimbledon steeplechase.

His most apposite comment was: 'It makes me think that Andy's achievement of what he did winning here twice, just unbelievable.'

How true that is. 

Too few of the British public appreciated at the time how outlandish it was to have a fully-formed grass court maestro appear from nowhere (or from Scotland, which in tennis terms is tantamount to nowhere) and reach the third round on debut, only his youthful body preventing him going further. Murray made the last 16 in 2006 and then for 10 years in a row he did not fall before the quarter-finals. Ridiculous.

We called Draper a tribute act in Friday's newspaper but really he is more of a headliner after the most difficult possible act to follow.

Jack Draper did not reach for any excuses after bowing out of Wimbledon in the second round

Draper arrived as the No 4 seed but he struggled to hit any of the right notes on Thursday night

Marin Cilic rolled back the years to teach Draper a thing or two in an impressive victory

Because of Murray - and, indeed, Tim Henman - the tennis world has a mistaken impression that British players are raised as grass court specialists from the cradle. 

But in case you haven't noticed there are not a whole lot of grass courts around, and in order to play on most of them one's papa must have gone to the right school.

Draper's experience is far more typical than Murray's. He is not good on grass, not yet. 

He was carefully optimistic about his chances here in the build-up - he is the No 4 seed and it would not do to talk himself down - but he did try to warn us.

'People assume that because I'm British I must be amazing on this surface,' he said before the tournament, and once defeat came against Cilic he felt able to go further.

'This year highlighted to me that I really struggle on the grass,' he said. 'I felt great on the hard, felt great on the clay. As soon as I came on to the grass, I felt a big difference.'

How did this all come as such a surprise, to ourselves and perhaps to Draper himself? Is it a case of national delusion, a strawberry-and-cream-induced hallucination that we had a Wimbledon contender on our hands?

Not entirely, for Draper's talent and competitiveness have masked his failings on this surface. He looked good on debut in defeat by Novak Djokovic in 2021 and took a set off Alex de Minaur in the second round in 2022.

Draper had previously tried to temper expectations around him given struggles on grass

While he has shown flashes, there are glaring holes in his game when it comes to the grass

Last year he won the Stuttgart title, largely off the back of an incredible week on serve, and then beat Carlos Alcaraz at Queen's Club. 

His second-round defeat by Cam Norrie at Wimbledon could be explained away by the disruption of the short-lived addition of Wayne Ferreira to his coaching team.

At Queen's last month he played badly - alarmingly badly at times - but it was his first grass event of the swing, he had tonsillitis and he still made the semi-finals.

And so it was with the force and suddenness of a Cilic forehand that the realisation arrived on Thursday evening: he's actually not that good on grass.

His forehand has too much spin and he struggles to defend on that side when the ball shoots through low. His slice backhand floats like a buoy when it should zip like a skimmed stone. 

Draper insists he does not practice drop shots, seeing them as an instinctive art, but on the evidence of the last three weeks, he should probably start practicing drop shots. 

Less easy to fix is that he looks a little heavy for the surface; not light enough on his feet.

But we are in danger here of over-correcting for previously inflated expectations. 

Losing to Cilic was yet another reality check of how far Draper has to go to win a Slam on grass

Draper is still a fine player and it was instructive to canvas the view of John Lloyd, a former British No 1 himself who has seen Murray and Henman come and go.

'He's got a ways to go yet on this surface,' said Lloyd. 'He has to get more bite on his backhand slice in particular - I remember thinking the same about Rafael Nadal when he first played here – and his forehand didn't go through the court enough, these are all little nuances.

'But Jack is the real deal, there's no doubt in my mind, and I think next year he will be a threat here. He is not there yet but he's coming.

'There's a hardness about him deep inside and that's good. I don't think there's any need of panic.'

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