Nation ready to take Jack Draper to its heart after Wimbledon win

To borrow from another big hitter with a tendency to sink rivals, British tennis watchers do not merely expect every man to do his duty.

They also like him to show nerves of steel while suffering an existential crisis, and if he can win after going through the emotional wringer because of a cavalier penchant for drop shots, so much the better. A post-match presser then delivered with the wit of Stephen Fry is favoured. The latest to enter this maelstrom of great expectations is Jack Draper.

At 23 he is already a big deal in broad tennis terms — a US Open semi-finalist, the Indian Wells champion and up to No4 in the world — but he has never made the third round at Wimbledon and the nation only truly takes you to its heart when you have had it hiding behind the sofa.

Draper will face the experienced Croatian Cilic, runner-up in 2017, in the second round HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Alas, for the fans on No1 Court anyway, this year’s first sighting was brief and routine. Sebastián Báez was 16-1 and quickly lived down to that billing. The Argentinian is no mug, No38 in the world now and once as high as 18, but he had not taken a set off Draper in two previous meetings and soon looked every inch a man who was head and shoulders shorter. Draper v Báez, men against boys.

By the time the 5ft 7in fall guy called for the trainer after a slip in the second set, the watching John McEnroe estimated he had a 2 per cent chance of winning. Draper’s huge forehand and serve made it no contest. He had got the first of five breaks early and was utterly untroubled. After 63 minutes he was two sets up. In the second he won all his points on first serve and Báez did not hit a winner. Eleven minutes later it was done. Báez, badly beaten up, retired hurt, with the score 6-2, 6-2, 2-1. The average rally was three shots.

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Was brevity a blessing? “I wanted to play longer, in all honesty,” Draper said, but in the long run this may be a bonus. “I felt I was getting my tennis together. It’s no way to win like that and I wish Sebastian the best in his recovery, of course.”

As for the attention of the fans who appear on the cusp of mainlining Pimm’s and patriotism this week, he said: “I play every game like it’s my last anyway. I don’t think about it until people mention it every five minutes. I feel like I can handle things that come my way. I’ve been through a lot of things in my life so far. This is something that I can handle, for sure. I’m the one who wants to do amazingly well and I put pressure on myself in a good way.”

Draper progressed on another good day for British men’s tennis with Evans another through to the second round TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER BRADLEY ORMESHER

In the next round he faces Marin Cilic, the runner-up in 2017, and if the Croatian is not what he was, he did become the oldest grass-court champion in Challenger history when winning the Nottingham Open last month. “A really dangerous player,” in Draper’s words, Cilic has the form, power and nous to rattle nerves and will relish a rare shot on the big stage.

More good news, potentially, came via the exit of Alexander Bublik, Draper’s conqueror at the French Open. The Russia-born Kazakh, who was fifth favourite here and in line to clash with Draper in the third round, was a surprise loser to Spain’s Jaume Munar, the world No54. Novak Djokovic might also come into the equation at the quarter-final stage. The taper is lit.

And so a good start for British tennis, with two more men progressing after victories for Dan Evans and Jack Pinnington Jones. Draper was clear where the inspiration for this British wave had come from. “Andy [Murray] has had a huge effect on a lot of the younger generation,” he said. “We were watching him lift those big trophies on Sky Sports.”

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Baez, the world No38, retired hurt PETER VAN DEN BERG

What he really needs to set up residence in the public consciousness is a Richard Gasquet night. In 2008 a scowling, scruffy Murray came back from two sets and 5-4 down against Gasquet. For those with short memories Gasquet was a flamboyant French player who would beat a doping rap by saying the woman he had kissed in a nightclub had taken cocaine — and it seemed entirely believable.

He led Murray a merry dance with his D’Artagnan shtick of one-handed backhand sorties, but Murray dug in, played unexpected, sometimes inexplicable shots, and visibly grew as the shadows lengthened. That was the true birth of Murray Mania. Yes, he’d had the attention from 2005, when Sean Connery watched from the Royal Box, but this match was full of his signature fare. At his most dramatic it seemed like Murray was wrestling Blofeld, Gasquet and himself. He is getting a statue, but probably deserves a square.

Draper now has the unenviable task of following Murray and a Gasquet equivalent will drag us all in because there is nothing like seeing how much someone cares to make you care. It may be coming soon.

To that end the man who has sailed past all those nepo baby jibes because his father was chief executive of the LTA said he had been warming up by watching old Murray tapes. They are very different players. Murray’s game was based on angles, returns and imagination. Draper has powerful groundstrokes and a big serve. Whether he can do what Murray did so often and go to the darkest places a tennis match can offer and still find shafts of rare sporting light is going to be fascinating to find out.

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