Melbourne | Draper survives gruelling five setter

Jack Draper reached the second round of the Australian Open for the first time having fallen in the opening round on his debut last year, but while it was a more than satisfactory victory for the British No.4, he ended the gruelling match by rushing to a court-side bin where he threw up!

I kind of felt bad because I obviously just beat the guy, and I was saying, ‘I need to shake your hand, mate, but I need to get to that bin’ Jack Draper

And in some ways not surprising considering he was playing in intense Melbourne heat for over three-hours and 20-minutes before sealing a fighting 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-0 6-2 win over Marcos Giron of the US,

“It was weird,” the 22-year-old said later. “I obviously played such a long point, maybe it was sort of a reaction to finally getting over the line. I don’t know.

“I kind of felt bad because I obviously just beat the guy, and I was saying, ‘I need to shake your hand, mate, but I need to get to that bin’.

“I don’t really do that often, but it was a reaction.”

Jack Draper vomits into a bin after winning his singles

(Photo by James D. Morgan/Getty Images)

He believes his violent reaction was more a result of the tension within him as well as the physicality of the match rather than the heat.

“It was obviously a physical match. It’s tough conditions (but) it wasn’t that long for a five-set match,” he added.

“I played three hours, 40 last week in hotter conditions, and I was physically absolutely fine. I think it’s obviously a Grand Slam.

“I think it was more kind of psychological stress today that was causing my sort of fatigue rather than the physical nature because I felt better in the fifth set than I did the first.”

Draper will face 14th seed Tommy Paul, a Melbourne Park semi-finalist last year, in the second round later this week, a player he beat in the quarter final of the Adelaide International on his way to the final last week.

However, he is very aware that in the atmosphere of a grand slam, he could well prove a tougher opponent than a week ago!

“The match I played against him, I was really solid. I played great tennis. But obviously five sets is different,” Draper said.

“It will be a tough match, and he’ll be wanting to get some revenge on me for sure.”

But he should be satisfied with his latest performance, rallying from two-sets-to-one down to claim his second round place.

He began well by winning the first set but then started to struggle physically as Giron worked his way into the match and took the lead.

Draper was certainly feeling the effects of the heat and had to have his blood pressure taken at the end of the second as the match swung away from the British youngster.

However, after taking the second of his allotted toilet breaks at the end of the third, he produced a remarkable turnaround to run away with the third without dropping a game and forcing a decider.

Marcos Giron in action against Jack Draper

(Photo by WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images)

Now it was Giron’s turn to take a break between the fourth and fifth sets, but it failed to slow his opponent down who, with the momentum in his favour, broke him in the second game.

Giron broke back to bring Draper’s run of eight consecutive games to an end and briefly the win could have gone either way but the Brit swung it in his favour in the sixth and held his nerve to claim a hard earned victory.

Britain’s final hope, Dan Evans, unfortunately couldn’t join Draper and Norrie in round two suffering a 4-6 7-6(8) 6-2 7-6(4) loss to Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego.