Jack Draper is heading back to the Top 40 on the ATP Tour after a pretty good week at the Mexico Open in Acapulco, but another retirement left fans worried.
Draper has been a wonderful tennis player when fully healthy, but that's rarely been the case. The Brit struggled with many injuries, and since turning pro, quite a few caused him to retire from multiple matches.
He retired from his latest match in Acapulco as well but it had very little do to with an actual injury. Thankfully it was only the heat that bothered Draper as he's had bad experiences with that before.
A couple of years ago, he fainted in Miami due to the heat, and it's clearly a problem for him. He didn't faint in this match but he dealth with a lot of problems.
During an MTO in the second set, Draper complained to the doctor about several issues but opted to continue as he was taking a break at that time. Oddly enough, he would actually crush de Minaur in that second set when he struggled physically.
Unfortunately, he couldn't keep that up in the final set as he slowly shut down against the relentless de Minaur. The Australian grew up in Spain and not only that, he often ran up and down the sandy beaches in Spain building up his signature speed.
There was no way Draper would win the heat endurance battle against hte Australian and it proved through as he retired once he fell behind 0-4. The semi-final efforts were enough for him to earn 200 points this week, which will put his total at 1151, moving him up to the Top 40.
It's certainly where he belongs, but his health remains a question mark, especially with the Sunshine Double coming up. It's called the Sunshine Double for a reason, so let's see how he handles it.
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