Twenty-two-year-old tennis star Jack Draper, widely recognised as the No 1 male British player on the court right now, just had a taste of controversy after being accused of cheating at the Cincinnati Open, according to various reports. He secured the match point while playing against Canada’s Félix Auger-Aliassime, but his opponent contested that the Brit had hit the ball into the ground, after which it bounced up and landed over the net.
Draper argued that he was only looking at his opponent and couldn’t be sure about what happened, but insisted that, “If there was a replay, I would replay it,” per The Guardian. The umpire ultimately gave him the win.
However, he later admitted after watching the replay that it was “very clear it’s an illegal shot” and that he was “thinking about it four days non-stop”. Nevertheless, he is taking the widespread criticism as “part of being a top athlete” and the experience as “a good way of showing that we really do need VAR technology” for complete fairness in tennis.
Draper went on to win against China’s Zhizhen Zhang in the US Open. But what else do we know about Draper off the court?
Draper’s mother, Nicky Draper, said in an interview with the LTA that she was a tennis coach at the Sutton Tennis and Squash Club, and that was where Jack picked up a racquet for the first time.
