Match under close watch!

You surely didn’t miss it: Draper broke down crying during a change of ends in his last match, which he lost to Atmane. The distress in his tears, like “I’m never going to make it,” is tough to see. And while everyone was expecting him to withdraw here, as he’s made a habit of doing lately, Jack Draper decided to play. There’s a sort of rebellious move in that decision. Like: don’t give a damn, I’ll play through the pain and we’ll see what happens. I don’t know exactly what’s wrong with him, but I’ve heard about that famous mental twist a few times, and often, it’s worked. A kind of desperation that triggers something in the body... Then again, I might be falling for survivorship bias, meaning I only remember the positive cases, while for 90% of the guys who had a mental twist like that, it only made things worse afterward.

Anyway, Draper is at 1.35 on Pin. His last two losses can be chalked up to Humbert and Atmane, but before that it wasn’t bad (without being amazing either). To hang in there like that against Atmane gives some hope against a Landaluce who isn’t really at his best. Especially since if Draper brings his usual solidity from the baseline, that’s exactly the kind of thing that can bother Landaluce. Let me remind you that his last loss to Mejia is quite representative of what he doesn’t like: a guy who sends everything back and forces him to be precise with his attacks. And that’s generally the kind of tennis Jack plays to get himself back on track and build up confidence...