Teenage prodigy Jack Draper picks minor Portugal events over Wimbledon juniors

A year on from making the junior final at Wimbledon, Jack Draper does not expect to be back at SW19 over the next three weeks. 

He will probably play some minor events in Portugal, having turned his back on the junior game despite being eligible to play as he is still only 17.

On Monday he was knocked out of the Wimbledon qualifying first round, putting in a promising performance before losing 6-4, 7-6 to Yasutaka Uchiyama, the world No 182 from Japan.

It has been an eventful time for Draper since he shot to prominence last summer. He has experienced a dose of glandular fever-type symptoms, burn-out, broken a finger, had wrist tendinitis and gone through a couple more growth spurts.

'You could say I've been learning to go through a few ups and downs,' Draper told Sportsmail. 'The reason I don't think I'll play at Wimbledon is that I decided last year that I was finished with juniors. You can go back to some bad habits at that level and I feel I've transitioned okay into the senior game.'

He has, however, only managed seven tournaments prior to Monday, where he was playing on a court outside the back gate of the National Tennis Centre at Roehampton, where his father Roger used to rule the roost.

Now standing a slightly coltish 6' 3", his issues have not just been the spurts that have continued to alter his body shape.

'I had this glandular fever type thing late last year and didn't really know it. I ended up going to a tournament in Knoxville (USA) in November and it was the last place I wanted to be. I felt a bit burnt out so I decided to step back and take a break. I think I was sort of waking up to what the life of a touring player is really like and I wasn't really ready for it.'

The break was elongated when he broke a finger by trapping it in a door. 'It was a freak accident and that held me back a bit. After getting back playing I then had some wrist tendinitis and woke up one morning with like a golf ball on my wrist.

'A lot of it is related to my growth spurts, which now feel like they are coming to an end. Actually I feel I have grown up a lot in different ways, including passing my driving test, but my body has felt a bit all over the place, which is what happens.

'My game is there, it's just like trying to put all the parts of the puzzle together. It might feel a bit weird not to be at Wimbledon, but if I go to Portugal it will be almost like my season is finally starting after all that has happened.'

There are some who believe that Draper should have received a main draw wildcard after his exploits last year, and his level on Monday suggested he would not have been embarrassed. His potent left-handed serve would, apart from anything else, guarantee him games on the fresh grass courts of SW19.

Liam Broady was a British first round winner, snapping a three-match losing streak on grass this year after a restorative two days last week spent walking around Lyme Park in Cheshire on the edge of the Peak District.

'I had overtrained a bit and my coach told me to go away for two days and just forget about tennis so I went round Lyme Park with my Mum and that cleared my head,' said Broady, who defeated Slovakian Andrej Martin 6-3, 6-1.

The £13,250 second round qualifying prize money will come in useful for a player at his level: 'I need to pay off some credit card debts,' smiled the 25 year-old world No 249 from Stockport. 'This should help keep me going until the end of the year.' 

Source: Daily Mail

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