ATP
Heat’s on as fragile Draper told to toughen up
A veteran pair of pundits have advised Brit Jack Draper to lift his fitness or get left behind in the ATP stampede as the Londoner reaches towards the ranking top 10.
Draper, son of a former controversial tennis administrator, currently stands 15th in the world and won the first two titles of his career this season in Stuttgart and last weekend in Vienna,
But the 22-year-old has a weak point which opponents cannot fail to notice: he vomited on court during the warm weather Australian and US Opens and had other mid-match difficulties at the summer Paris Olympics.
Tennis wise men Andy Roddick and Mark Petchey, both keen commentators of the sport, have advised the Brit to get a training base outside of the UK in a hot-weather venue in order to bring his fitness up to scratch.
The tactic worked for Andy Murray, who received his basic tennis training as a teenager in Spain after fleeing wintery and wet Scotland ; other European players often choose the searing temperatures of Dubai for training purposes.
Many others pick nearby Monaco, with tax-free status part of the attractive package.
Draper, however, may need some convincing to uproot his life in favour of building up career and former British player Petchey makes a convincing case:
“Jack has an incredible skill set on the tennis court which to me, is much more important than his body has ever been,” he told Bally Casino.
“I’ll choose skills and weapons over physique in tennis every time as a coach.
“However, I do think Jack needs to go and live in a hot, humid place for a couple of years to make sure that he takes the stress out of what he feels like when his body starts really hurting in those conditions.”
Petchey added: “I think that (moving to the heat) would be the smartest decision that he could make and would take his Grand Slam-winning potential even higher.
“It won’t be easy for him, but if he’s going to make that sacrifice, I think it will bring him the results that he wants. Jack works his butt off on all areas of his game and anyone that thinks differently is just frankly wrong.”
Roddick, who transferred from the chilly American flatland Midwest to the sweltering weather of Austin, Texas, during his career, agrees.
“I would get my body ready doing sprints, lifting, doing the whole thing for a month straight in Austin,” he said on his podcast.
“We would stop in Hawaii on the way to Australia to get used to time zones, but I would literally play on this court in Hawaii that was made of lava rocks and would just cook myself for two weeks to get used [to the heat].”
“The difference in training is making sure that your body can – you have to be prepared at a Slam.
“Your body has to be able and be prepared to play five hours, seven times, 14 days, in heat, in weather.”
Two-time champion Casper Ruud had to work for more than two and a half hours to overcome Jaime Faria, the Portuguese who put out Stan Wawrinka in the first round at the Gstaad Swiss Open on Thursday.
Faria was riding the momentum from Tuesday’s defeat of three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka, set to retire this season and beaten in an opening match at his home venue.
Faria had his eye on a second upset as he faced Ruud, who lifted the trophy at this elite alpine village in 2021 and 2022.
Ruud ahd to dodge a bullet and mount a comeback to get through the second-round test against the Portuguese.
After dropping the opening set in a tiebreaker, Ruud played patiently as Faria saved five break points in the sixth game of the second set before failing on the sixth.
Ruud then pulled away for a 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-2 victory, his first since Roland Garros.
“Sometimes it is hard to say when you get a good feeling and you start to win some games in a row,” the winner said.
“You try from the first game to the last, but suddenly something clicked in the middle of the second for me, luckily.”
He added: “I had to really fight hard and if I played one bad game in the second and he serves well, it could be over and it would be time to go home. But luckily I can extend the stay.”
The Scandinavian could join Spaniards Sergi Bruguera and Alex Corretja as three-time winners in the Alps, with Ruud now standing 10-1 here over his career.
Stefanost Tsitsipas said he slept soundly prior to finishing off a darkness-interrupted match on Thursday as he eliminated local Jerome Kym at the Gstaad Swiss Open.
The Greek who once cracked third in the world and the 186th-ranked Swiss returned to the clay after darkness on Wednesday night left them hanging at 5-all in the third set.
Tsitsipas revved up his game from the resumption to emerge into the quarter-finals 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5).
The second seed now standing 85th in the world after several poor seasons and a split with his father as his coach, said getting his rest was not a problem after the interruption.
“It was strange going to bed and not being finished. I visualised what I wanted to do, my shot patterns.
“It worked out pretty well.
“I had a good night’s sleep, I was not too stressed and I recovered to get ready for the continuation.”
After saving break points in the first game on Thursday, Tsitsipas triumphed in the final-set tiebreaker
“I’m relieved I was able to save a couple of break points.. I put my game together and made it )victory) happen again.”
The Greek now faces off against Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech for a semi-final spot.
“I’m expecting a lot of big serves, the altitude (1050m) helps. I’ll try to build consistency around my own serve.”
Stefanos Tsitsipas was handed a reprieve due to fading light with his second round match at the Swiss Open Gstaad stopped with the Greek deadlocked with local Jerome Kym 6-4, 6-7 (2), 5-5.
The math had to be halted as night fell and electronic linecalling computers could not read the path of the ball on the clay in contrast to humans who could have carried on for a few additional minutes..
The 27-year-old Tsitsipas was taking the worst of it in the concluding stage after a promising start.against a journeyman opponent ranked 186.
Tsitsipas, his ranking down to 85th after once standing third in the world, lashed out verbally in the last few games, apparently frustrated with his racquet reactions.
The Greek was quick to make his point of an overnight stoppage to the chair umpire while Kym – who reached 5-all with a love service hold – left the court with a defiant fist pump for his public in this alpine resort village.
The cutoff came after just over two hours of play, with the contest to be concluded on Thursday. The winner reaches the Friday quarter-finals.
Tsitsipas produced his last notable result in April with a fourth-round showing at the Madrid Masters,
He is aiming for his second quarter-final of the season after Doha in February and his 2025 Barcelona 15 months ago.
Tsitsipas stands 10-1 vs. players ranked outside the top 100 this season with a sole loss to No. 104 Italian Matteo Arnaldi at the Roland Garros second round.
History repeats for Argentine spoiler in Gstaad
Ruud survives a scare to secure Gstaad quarters
Tsitsipas finishes off Kym after overnight pause
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