Jack Draper had to fight not only his opponent but also challenging conditions in his opening match at the 2024 Australian Open, and it showed.
Draper is an outstanding tennis player, but he's not the most resilient player yet. The Brit struggled tremendously with injuries so far in his career, especially in 2023, missing some significant events.
Outside of injury struggles, Draper also had some unfortunate moments. A few years ago, a teenage Draper collapsed on a tennis court in very hot and humid weather in Miami, which he, as a player from England, is obviously not used to.
Something similar happened in Melbourne during his first-round match, though thankfully, he didn't collapse this time around despite being visibly far from his top health.
He did call a medical timeout due to chest tightness, which turned out to be stress-related, as he wanted to have his blood pressure checked. The medical team did measure his blood pressure, and made sure all was fine.
His match against Marcos Giron also had an unfortunate ending, even though the Brit won and advanced to the next round. It was a very physical match, which went to five sets, and Draper worked really hard to win the last two, but it came at a price.
He could barely contain it, but once he shook Giron's hand, Draper quickly rushed to his bench and threw up immediately. He was fine, but cameras captured him sitting on his bench without his shirt on and just cooling down.
It was a pretty strange experience for the Brit, who admitted after the match it had never happened before, even when he played in brutal conditions.
"I don't usually get sick, not ever. I think it's weird. It was obviously a physical match. It's tough conditions. It wasn't that long for a five-set match. I played three hours, 40 last week in hotter conditions, and I was physically absolutely fine."
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