TENNIS-BRITAIN'S DRAPER SEIZES SPOTLIGHT AFTER MURRAY MISERY

By Martyn Herman

LONDON (Reuters) -Centre Court ticket holders were expecting to watch Andy Murray's last stand at Wimbledon on Tuesday but instead got a glimpse of the new force in British tennis in the shape of 22-year-old Jack Draper.

Despite some chewed fingernails as the stylish left-hander was made to dig deep against gallant Swedish qualifier Elias Ymer to win 3-6 6-3 6-3 4-6 6-3, they liked what they saw.

Twice Wimbledon champion and former world number one Murray withdrew from the singles in the morning having failed to recover in time from surgery to remove a spinal cyst.

While fans were disappointed at being deprived of seeing the 37-year-old Murray do battle one last time in what is his final Wimbledon, they ended the day cheering Draper into the second round under the Centre Court roof.

"You came here to watch Andy, but you were stuck with me instead," Draper said on court. "The crowd helped massively, I love playing in front of a lot of people."

Asked for his thoughts on taking over from Murray, the man who carried British tennis for more than a decade, Draper said: "What an honour, to think of the number ones that came before me, Tim (Henman), Andy and Cam (Norrie).

"I wouldn't be here without Andy, he's one of a kind."

Draper stunned reigning Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz at Queen's Club in the build-up to the All England Club fortnight and toppled Norrie as Britain's new number one.

He arrived seeded at a Grand Slam for the first time, at number 28, and while struggling at times against the shot-making of Ymer, he showed Murray-like resolve to avoid a slip-up.

The 28-year-old Ymer has never realised his full potential and is ranked outside the top 200, but he played beautifully in the opening set as Draper briefly looked weighed down by the expectation now loaded on his shoulders.

When he unleashed his powerful groundstrokes and began to find their target, Draper turned the match in his favour by winning the next two sets and looked on course for a quick finish.

ROOF DELAY

In the long tradition of British players, including Murray, of putting fans through the wringer, Draper lost his focus and dropped serve at 4-4 in the fourth set, allowing Ymer to drag the match into a fifth set.

After a delay while the roof was closed and lights turned on, Draper returned to the stage full of intent and rattled through the deciding set to post his second Wimbledon win and set up an intriguing clash with Norrie.

Draper has a long way to go to get anywhere near Murray's 61 Wimbledon match wins and if he ends up with a career even half as good as the Scot's it would be a great outcome.

But as Murray hands over the baton, Draper looks capable of matching his best Grand Slam run which came when reaching the fourth round of last year's U.S. Open.

Britain's women's number one Katie Boulter also reached round two on a mixed day for the host nation, the 32nd seed battling past experienced German Tatjana Maria 7-6(6) 7-5.

Norrie eased past Argentina's Facundo Diaz Acosta while there was a debut Wimbledon win for wildcard Jacob Fearnley against Alejandro Moro Canas -- his reward being a dream clash with seven-times Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic.

"Just to be able to share the court with a player like that will be really special," Fearnley said.

Boulter will face fellow Briton Harriet Dart in the second round after Dart trounced China's Bai Zhuoxuan.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman;Editing by Alison Williams and Ken Ferris)

2024-07-03T01:26:58Z dg43tfdfdgfd