British Number One Jack Draper Says He Had A "difficult" Time After His Integrity Was Questioned Following Last Week's Cincinnati Open.

British number one Jack Draper says he had a “difficult” time after his integrity was questioned following last week’s Cincinnati Open.

Post author:Mujuni Henry
Post published:August 26, 2024
Post category:Sports
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The 22-year-old beat Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime in controversial circumstances when the umpire failed to spot the ball hitting the floor as Draper struck it.

Replays appeared to back up Auger-Aliassime’s argument the ball had hit the frame of Draper’s racket and then the floor on match point – but there was no replay technology available at the event.

Draper insisted he had not seen it happen and “would have 100% replayed the point” had it been called.

Speaking to BBC Sport before the US Open begins on Monday, Draper admitted the criticism he faced had been hard.

“It’s slowly moving on,” he said. “It was difficult for four or five days afterwards – it was the first time I’ve experienced criticism and [had] my integrity questioned as an athlete.

“For me it’s one of the most important things to be honest, do the right thing, be a good person – more than just a good tennis player.”

The world number 25, who faces China’s Zhang Zhizhen in the first round in New York, said criticism from other players was harder to deal with.

“It’s freedom of speech at the end of the day, people can have their opinion and can say what they feel and think,” he said.

“Do I necessarily agree with what they’re saying? No, because I was in the situation and I know my truth and that’s that I didn’t know.

“But obviously you have to respect that – it’s all part of being a great player, people are going to question you and I don’t blame them for that because when we saw the replay, it was clearly an illegal shot.

“It is difficult seeing that criticism but being a top athlete you are going to be subject to certain situations where you are going to receive criticism.”

Auger-Aliassime spoke at length with the umpire during the match, arguing the point should have been his, before eventually conceding defeat.

British number one Jack Draper says he had a "difficult" time after his integrity was questioned following last week's Cincinnati Open. 1

Draper said the situation had been “very difficult for Felix as well”.

“I thought he handled it with great maturity and complete class,” Draper said.

“It would have been easy for him to fly off the hook and feel extremely hard done by, which he was at the end of the day, looking back at the slo-mo – it was an illegal shot in a big point in the match, obviously being match point.

“I know my truth and that’s that in that situation, I really did not know in that moment what had happened.”