It’s tough to see people calling you a cheat, says British No1 Draper

Jack Draper’s run to the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Open should have made for a timely dose of encouragement before the US Open. Instead the British No 1 spent the next four days often staring into space as he reflected on the reaction to his central role in an incident billed by the ATP’s official streaming service, Tennis TV, as “THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL MATCH POINT EVER!!!”
Speaking at length for the first time since he departed Cincinnati under a dark cloud, Draper made clear that the experience has been bruising. The 22-year-old has regularly replayed in his head the moment in which he sealed a third-round victory over Canada’s Félix Auger-Aliassime by playing a half-volley that made contact with the court on his side before clipping the net cord on its way over.
With Draper uncertain at the time about whether it was a foul shot or not, the lack of a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system on the ATP Tour meant the umpire, Greg Allensworth, was unable to review the point despite television viewers at home being given an instant slow-motion replay.
It is the furore on social media that has hurt Draper most. While Novak Djokovic merely focused on calling for VAR to be installed across the tour, others such as Nick Kyrgios have suggested that Draper would have known it was a foul by the feel and trajectory of the ball off his racket. Having watched the replay since, Draper acknowledges that the shot was against the rules but has found it tough to see his integrity being questioned.
“It’s hard to stay away from it [the reaction online],” Draper said. “I’ve always valued myself on being honest and a good person. Forget the tennis — that is one of the most important things to me in my life. So to see that stuff, and see people talking about you for the first time in a negative way, it’s difficult to see.
“I don’t blame people for doing that. On the slow-mo replay, when you watch it from the side, it’s very clear it’s an illegal shot. There’s no doubt about that. But when you’re in the moment and you serve out wide and the guy’s hit a 95mph ball at your feet, you just put a racket down. I didn’t know what happened. I looked at the umpire straight away. I took a swipe at it, because I thought it was going in the bottom of the net, and then it hit the net and went over. It was just like a split second of madness.
“I was thinking about it for four days nonstop. I was really upset by it. But honestly, in that moment, I couldn’t do anything because I didn’t know [exactly what had happened]. I think anyone would be lying if they’re saying they’re not hurt by seeing a lot of comments saying you’re a cheat, you’re a liar. It’s hard in that situation to know what to do but also it’s good because it’s my first experience of having negativity and criticism, and that’s all part of being a top athlete.”
To Draper’s relief, the odds of a repeat at Flushing Meadows are slim as VAR is available to the umpire on eight courts, covering about 80 per cent of the main-draw singles matches. With electronic line-calling becoming commonplace on the ATP Tour in 2025, he hopes that events in Cincinnati will speed up the widespread use of VAR.
“It is a good way of showing that we really do need VAR technology,” Draper said. “I hope that this situation doesn’t happen [again], so that tennis is completely fair. We can’t have something like that happen again. It’s embarrassing for the players and really tough for the person it happens to.”
Having been the talk of the tennis world in the aftermath, Draper helpfully had the spotlight of scrutiny taken away by the announcement on Tuesday that Jannik Sinner had been found to bear “no fault or negligence” for two failed drugs tests. He has observed the social media fallout to this with a fresh perspective.
“I thought my situation was tough to deal with but he must be be going through a lot right now,” Draper said. “I am quite close with Jannik [they recently played doubles together in Montreal] and I’d honestly say that he’s one of the nicest, most genuine, kind, professional guys that I’ve been around on the tour. I really don’t think he would have had any idea of what’s gone on [a reference to the contamination from a bare-handed massage by Sinner’s physiotherapist].”
As if there were not enough distractions during Draper’s build-up to the US Open, he has also split from his coach Wayne Ferreira, the former world No 6 from South Africa, in recent days. It is curious timing to end this four-month partnership before a grand-slam tournament but clearly there was a difference in opinion between Ferreira and Draper’s long-time coach, James Trotman, who remains part of his team.
“I’ve always been someone who likes to keep things simple,” Draper said. “I’d never had that kind of team dynamic before where I’ve got two different voices and two different coaches. I always wanted Trots to be the one leading what I was doing and I just felt like it was not as simple as I liked.”
At a career-high world ranking of No 25, Draper now leads the British men’s game forward in a new era following the retirement of Andy Murray. He acknowledges that it feels different without one of this country’s sporting greats in attendance, although the reasons for this are not quite what you may expect.
“It seems a bit weird not having Andy there with his rancid stinking shoes lying next to me in the locker room,” Draper said lightheartedly. “The one thing that players would say about Andy is that he is very messy. You’d have his shoes there, his wet grips there, his stuff here, and I’m trying to move it away. Give me some space to sit down.
“But no, I miss those moments when you’re in the locker room before matches and you’ve got someone as great as Andy sat next to you. I do miss his presence a lot.”
The six British singles players in US Open action
Jan Choinski v Roberto Carballés Baena, Monday, 4pm (BST) Harriet Dart v Chloé Paquet, Monday, approx 8pm Katie Boulter v Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Tuesday, 4pm Jack Draper v Zhang Zhizhen, Tuesday, approx 6pm Dan Evans v Karen Khachanov, Tuesday, approx 6pm Emma Raducanu v Sofia Kenin, Tuesday, 11pmTV: Live on Sky Sports