- John McEnroe has told Jack Draper how he needs to change his game
- British No 1 Draper was eliminated by Marin Cilic in second round of Wimbledon
John McEnroe has informed Jack Draper about how he need to improve his game following his exit from Wimbledon.
After overcoming Sebastian Baez in the first round, British No 1 Draper was eliminated by Marin Cilic, losing 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 4-6.
McEnroe suggested that Draper could suffer similar problems to Daniil Medvedev, who adopted an approach of standing far behind the baseline, which has had an impact on him physically.
McEnroe told BBC Sport: ‘He’s [Draper] six foot four, I don’t think he’s got an ounce of fat on him, it’s not like he can’t volley – he certainly can.
‘I think he will make that adjustment. It’ll be interesting to see if he changes things up on the hard courts, how he approaches that.
‘Take Daniil Medvedev, I think it caught up, he’s the guy that started that whole thing, standing way back. I think it’s catching up to him mentally and physically.’
John McEnroe has told British No1 Jack Draper how he need to perform his game
McEnroe stated that Draper needs to work hard to cut off the angles for opponents
Despite his exit from Wimbledon, McEnroe believes that Draper has still developed well.
He has now called upon the 23-year-old to work hard at cutting off some of the angles of his opponents.
McEnroe said: ‘He’s done great. He’s got to four in the world. If I was looking from a distance at Jack, I was like: ‘Why’s he standing so far back all the time?’
‘Especially on hard courts, even on clay. Is he quick enough to cover? Is he fit enough to do that consistently? Is that what he wants to do – wear people down that way? Forehand has gotten way bigger.
‘But to me at Wimbledon you’ve got to cut off some of these angles. You can’t allow yourself because it’s tougher to make those quick first steps.
‘Jack needs to lean look what [Taylor] Fritz did, his first couple of rounds against [Gabriel] Diallo and [Giovanni] Mpetshi Perricard. He’s standing at the baseline on 150mph serves.’
Draper has never progressed beyond the second round of Wimbledon but this was only his fourth appearance at the tournament and he will surely have many more opportunities to impress.
After his defeat Draper admitted that he has lots of weaknesses in his grass court game.
After his defeat Draper admitted that he has lots of weaknesses in his grass court game
‘I’ve been really disappointed with the way my game’s been on the grass this year, in all honesty,’ said the No4 seed.
‘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.’
