Andy Murray waves to the crowd as he leaves the court after losing to Grigor Dimitrov. Photo: Getty Images/Matthew Stockman
There was a sense of passing the baton at the US Open on Thursday as Jack Draper's superb win offset the disappointment of yet another early entry by Andy Murray.
Afterwards, a grim Murray told reporters that, despite being 86 places lower in the rankings, Draper would have been a better choice for the UK team than he was.
The two men's career charts seem to be pointing in opposite directions now, and their moods certainly were very different when they entered the interview room.
Murray had just been defeated by Grigor Dimitrov 6-3 , 6-4, 6-1 — the result that caused him to resume his bout of introspection. As he later explained: «Maybe I have to accept the fact that in these competitions, the depth races that I thought I was capable of may not be available.»
Nevertheless, Draper was enthusiastic. facing American Michael Mmoh in the third round, a match that would have earned him his debut in Week 2 of the Major had he won it.
So far, Draper's career has been cut short by numerous injuries. But if he can straighten up physically, his talent is on a different level than anything we've seen since Murray himself played his first Wimbledon in 2005.
At 21, Draper can still roam London without too much trouble — but that's sure to change if he continues to beat out top 20 opponents. The large crowd gathered on court 12 was immediately enthused when he broke through in the first game against Hubert Gurkacs, the man who is number one in the ATP serve rankings this season.
In fact, Draper has made five breaks out of 15 attempts, an extremely high number considering Gurkacz usually wins 89 percent of his innings. Admittedly, Gurkach was not in the best shape and appeared to be suffering from a stomach ailment that had been roaming the dressing room this week. But he still drove them at speeds up to 132 miles per hour, so it was hardly a gift.
🚨 UPDATED WARNING 🚨
British Jack Draper takes 2 sets to beat No. 17 Hubert Gurkacz 🔥 pic.twitter.com/7b3k02CR5S
— Sky Sports (@SkySports), August 31, 2023
Draper's tight penalty shootout with Hurkacs took just 2 hours and 12 minutes, with two-thirds of the points scored in four shots or fewer. Whereas Murray was involved in a real fight with Dimitrov. It took 44 minutes to play the first five games alone, and the explanation was twofold: partly because of the unusually large number of twos, and partly because of the huge number of courts that these two occupied.
< p>The match was like a microcosm of Murray's post-op career as a whole. A huge amount of sweat and effort; precious little reward. In this match, which lasted 2 hours and 41 minutes, he threw about 630 shots, but only 16 of them were victorious. Even taking into account Dimitrov's agility and speed, it speaks to a lack of penetration into his game.
After that, Murray seemed to talk himself out of a place on the British Davis Cup team in Manchester (where the group stage will start on Tuesday ). “The plan was to play,” he said, “but to be honest, other guys deserve to play ahead of me. Jack has had quite a few injuries, but if he is in good shape and healthy, he obviously plays very well.”
More broadly, Murray looked less concerned about his competitive future than he had after losing at Wimbledon to Stefanos Tsitsipas eight weeks ago. As mentioned above, he is beginning to question whether he has a deep run at the Grand Slam. But he also insisted that «I still love everything about playing at a high level.»
As Murray added, “Training and trying to improve is what keeps me moving forward. If something changes and I don't like it, or if in a few months I'm ranked 60th in the world instead of climbing up, everything can change.»
Andy Murray got frustrated as the match ended. Photo: Getty Images/Elsa
Questions like these — about the timing of retirement and the balance between work and family responsibilities — for Draper lie many years into the future. However, the young man himself has faced some awkward dilemmas this season, especially when it comes to understanding just how much tennis his frail body can handle.
This is Draper's second season on the ATP Tour, after a great 2022. a year in which it climbed 220 spots to 42nd in the rankings. Things aren't going well so far, with a measly 13 wins sending him back into the ranking snake at 123rd.
Cameron Norrie, US Open second round
But this does not mean that other players have dismantled it — as sometimes happens with talents that can break through quickly. Rather, he had problems with his hip and abdomen, followed by a torn shoulder tendon he suffered during the French Open. If he came to New York, he said on Thursday, he would give himself only a 30 percent chance to take part in this event.
“Last week in Winston-Salem, I felt something in my hand again,” Draper admitted. “I had a scan and I had a small swelling on my arm, which is basically a tear. My coach, my physio, and I were like, “Just a little more time off?” We almost cried. What else can we do?
«But when I sent the scans home, they said there's a chance you can play if you take good care of it. So I'm very, very happy with the fact that I was able to go out and play and actually my shoulder feels great.
“It's strange how this sport works. Sometimes you can be at the lowest level, and then suddenly you get in shape, you play great, and the body feels good. Hopefully, touch the tree, it will be the beginning of something.»
Jack Draper was too strong for Hubert Hurkacz Photo: Getty Images/Clive Brunskill
Draper certainly has a tempting draw in the third round against the world's No. 89 wild card Mmo. On Thursday, Mmo played an exciting five-set game and got rid of John Isner, the man best known for his 11-hour, 5-minute marathon against Nicholas Mayu at Wimbledon in 2010.
This was Isner's last match of his professional career . as he had already announced his retirement at the conclusion of this event. “That’s why I worked as hard as I have all my life, playing in such an atmosphere,” Isner said in a tearful on-court interview. «Playing in front of such an audience and getting such support is something special, thank you.»
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