Tennis - US Open 2024 - Jack Draper : "To follow in Andy's footsteps and make the quarter finals here, it's a big achievement for me"
Quelle satisfaction pour Jack Draper, qualifié pour son premier quart de finale en Grand Chelem. Le joueur de 22 ans a expédié Tomas Machac ce lundi, en trois petits sets, sans laisser le moindre suspense (6-3, 6-1, 6-2). Il est le premier Britannique à atteindre ce stade à l'US Open depuis 2016 et Andy Murray. Une statistique pas anodine pour celui qui se classe provisoirement 23e à l'ATP, et qui vise bien plus haut. Il défiera Alex De Minaur en quarts. Plus que jouable.
Vidéo : @USOpen
Vidéo : @USOpen
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00:00What do you make of the game against Real Madrid?
00:05Yeah, obviously it was a good match to come through. I'm incredibly proud to be in the
00:12quarter-finals. Obviously lost in the round of 16 last year, so amazing to come through.
00:19I thought it was a good match from my side. I did what I needed to do. I competed well
00:26and my level was pretty solid throughout, so I'm happy with the way I played today.
00:32Thank you. Questions? One question each, please. Yes.
00:35Dianne, Dika Stanza for the USTA. About your serve, you went into the match without having
00:42dropped a service game and came out of the match with the same awesome stat. Can you
00:50say something about that? Your serve, your opponents thus far haven't been able to break it.
00:55Yes, it's strange. I think, first of all, I'm doing good things behind the serve. I
01:01think I'm finding first serves when I need to find them. I've saved a lot of break points
01:06with good serves and good plays. I think I've still got a lot of work to go on my serve
01:14as well. I think my serve is a weapon. Whenever I look at the stats, I think I see that my
01:19first serve when it goes in is really high percentage, but I still feel like I'm serving
01:26not amazingly well. I'm not sure what my first serve percentage was today, but I don't think
01:30it would have been that high. It's really positive to know that I'm holding serve a
01:37lot and I still feel like there's room for improvement.
01:40Cecilia De Martini, First Force Funded. Jack, you just became the first British man to reach
01:52the quarter-finals since Andy Murray in 2000.
01:57That's an incredibly proud moment for me. I think, what, you mean here in the US Open?
02:06I'm incredibly proud of that achievement. Obviously, it's one of the biggest tournaments
02:14in the world. To follow in Andy's footsteps and make the quarter-finals here since he
02:23did in 2016, it's a big achievement for me. I think I've just got to keep on going because
02:31I know there's still room for improvement and still room to hopefully go further in
02:35the tournament. I'm really, really proud of that achievement and hopefully I can do more.
02:45I'm curious about your friendship with Yannick Sin. How did it start? You played double in
02:52Montreal. Is there a particular motivation for you by this friendship and do you dream
02:57to play against him in the semi-final?
02:59A hundred percent. The first time I met Yannick, we were an under-18 tournament. I think I
03:06played him in the doubles in a grade one ITF. I didn't know him but it was strange following
03:15his journey because when he was younger, he was probably not one of the best juniors.
03:19I remember playing him in doubles and we were saying, hit to him because he's not the best
03:25player on the court. Then obviously watching his progress from winning Bergamo Challenger
03:31to then really getting to the top 20 very quickly when all of us were 300, 400 in the
03:37world. I've obviously followed him and always think he's really well-mannered and an amazing
03:45guy and good for the sport. Obviously tennis is incredible too. Since I've been on the
03:51tour, obviously seeing him in the changing rooms and just be so high to each other a
03:57lot. I think we keep in touch on text. I think just in general, we're obviously young. We're
04:05playing this incredibly tough sport. There's a lot of emotional ups and downs. There's
04:10a lot of tough moments. I think it started through sending messages to each other when
04:16we're having bad moments or good moments. It was a real good thing that we played doubles
04:22in Montreal. I loved being on court with him. It was strange being on court with someone
04:28obviously that good. We played great doubles and hopefully I get to play with him again.
04:34I think as a person, he's incredibly kind, genuine, funny and that's more important than
04:42being the great player. He's also an unbelievable player and great for the sport too.
04:49Congratulations. All your matches so far have been really one-sided scorelines. I just wondered
04:54how close to your best you think you're playing right now and how much further you have in
04:58this tournament?
04:59I'm finding it strange. I feel like in the matches, I think a lot is going my way. I
05:06feel like in most of the matches, I've just had to control what I can control. I feel
05:14like my base level is good but I still feel like if I need to, I can improve my level
05:22a lot more. In some of the matches, I feel like sometimes my level in certain games is
05:29dropping because I kind of lose concentration because I feel like it is going quickly and
05:33it is going my way. I think that's why I'm saving a lot of break points because in those
05:38moments, I'm trying to pick myself up, pick my energy up because I need to. I feel like
05:46there's still a long way for me to go and a lot that I can still improve on in this
05:51tournament. I think obviously as the challenge gets higher and as I play even better players,
05:59I think hopefully my level will increase with that.
06:04Is it also not encouraging that you've been able to reach the quarter-finals being so
06:13clinical and not being close to your best in your opinion?
06:17Yes, 100%. I think that's the main thing about tennis. We can't play our best tennis all
06:24the time. It's about how we're coming through on the days when we're not playing our best
06:29or when things aren't perfect or when we're not feeling great. I felt like in my first
06:34few rounds, I felt really quite tired, quite lethargic. Even though I haven't played loads
06:41and loads of matches, this is my first year on tour and I feel like with the Olympics
06:45and Montreal, Cincinnati, the tennis schedule is relentless. There was definitely coming
06:53here, I felt a little bit of that fatigue. I had a day off yesterday and I felt so much
06:57better. I feel very positive about where my base level is and just feeling calm about
07:06my tennis and myself. I'm looking forward to keep on going.
07:16Will you speak to Andy in the next day or two just to tap into his knowledge, his experience
07:21of being at this level of a Grand Slam?
07:24Probably not. No, probably not. I think Andy, obviously I feel like he would completely
07:34understand and respond to any messages I send him and would give me advice. But I think
07:40also at the same time, I think he's enjoying his retirement now and he's done with it.
07:46I know if I have any questions or if I'm feeling something, then he'll be the first person
07:52I text and I know that he'd be there for me if I need him.