Jack Draper prevailed in his most recent Australian Open experience, but it was a really brutal match that required medical assistance.
Draper hails from the United Kingdom, a notoriously non-warm country that has tended to experience high temperatures more recently but generally doesn't yield people who tolerate heat very well.
The Brit knows that very well, as he collapsed a few years ago at the Miami Open when play happened in pretty brutal conditions.
The Australian Open is notorious for heat-related medical timeouts because the country of Australia is just very warm. This year's edition isn't as hot as previous ones, but that didn't really help Draper, who was fighting the heat for much of his first-round match.
At one point in the match, Draper called a medical timeout, and his blood pressure was measured, with the Brit revealing after the match what the cause for concern was.
"When you are very stressed, especially in hot conditions, and you are playing a guy as well, you can be sort of too focused on yourself whereas you are playing him as well. I just felt like my chest was very tight. It was referring to my back, and I just felt I couldn't really hold myself up."
Luckily everything was good, and Draper was able to continue the match, as the tightness was attributed to the stress of playing the match in rather harsh conditions. He ended up winning the match against Marcos Giron in five sets but also puked immediately after, which showed how complicated the match was for him.
Up next, he's playing Tommy Paul, who won't bow down easily, and even said that he likes the conditions in Melbourne. Draper did beat him recently in Adelaide, though, a run, that ended in the final but without the trophy.
"I think, yeah, that's what stress does to you. I think it will help a lot coming through this match. I feel like maybe in a couple of days it would be very different because I'm a bit more relaxed now maybe."
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