Although Draper is a gifted player who hopes to rank in the top 10 in the world, this loss just serves to highlight how much work remains for him.
In order to help him reach his objective, the left-hander recently added South African former world number nine Wayne Ferreira to his coaching staff. Prior to playing De Jong, the player stated that his game, especially his serve, is “in transition”.
That was demonstrated by the fact that he won just 51% of his second-serve points and only landed 50% of his first serves.
Additionally, there were significant double faults, none more so than the one that let De Jong win the seventh game of the decider at 30-40.
This year, I’ve had trouble with my serve. “I’m attempting to improve it,” Draper remarked.
“I need to improve on this issue because I’m currently lacking confidence when serving. It’s truly disappointing me.”
Draper suffered, but 23-year-old De Jong looked confident after winning three qualifying matches to get into the main draw.
The Briton had only engaged in a five-set battle once, which was during this year’s Australian Open when he overcame Marcos Giron in challenging circumstances.
That seemed to be a turning point in Draper’s career, demonstrating that he had developed the mental and physical fortitude to face hardship.
But Draper was unable to win another Grand Slam final when De Jong scheduled a second-round match with Carlos Alcaraz, the third-seeded player from Spain.
“[Last year] I couldn’t manage near to three sets, and now this is probably, I think, the longest match I’ve played,” said Draper.
“I didn’t collapse or get cramps. It was my tennis, not the physicality, that was the problem today. I consider that to be a true plus.”
