{"id":96182,"date":"2025-08-26T03:16:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T03:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/96182\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T03:16:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T03:16:07","slug":"jack-draper-forced-to-dig-deep-against-dogged-gomez-after-on-court-sickness-us-open-tennis-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/96182\/","title":{"rendered":"Jack Draper forced to dig deep against dogged G\u00f3mez after on-court sickness | US Open Tennis 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

After 53 days without experiencing the tension, physicality and adrenaline of competing at the highest level of his sport, Jack Draper<\/a> returned to competition at the US Open with a bruising first-round win that \u00adillustrated the challenge of \u00adentering a grand slam tournament with \u00adsuboptimal preparation.<\/p>\n

Draper, the fifth seed, dragged himself into the second round with a tough 6-4, 7-5, 6-7 (7), 6-2 win against the qualifier Federico Agust\u00edn G\u00f3mez. However, he also struggled physically as the match extended in the warm conditions and he threw up during the third set.<\/p>\n

Afterwards, Draper said his \u00adsickness was not linked to any physical struggles. \u201cI felt physically fine. Potentially a bit of nervous energy. I wasn\u2019t feeling nervous out there. Sometimes I\u2019ve always had some problems with my gut almost. So could be a little bit of just getting out there again, a bit of nervous tension.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having been forced to withdraw from a series of tournaments after his painful second-round defeat at \u00adWimbledon<\/a> with bone bruising on his left arm, Draper described his recovery as a work in progress.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve definitely had to rein in my serve a little bit to make sure to keep the pain down, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d said Draper. \u201cAt the same time, though, I feel like my accuracy is almost a bit better at times. It\u2019s definitely something which is not giving me pain like on my serve and that\u2019s not why I\u2019m doing it, but it\u2019s one of those things where I\u2019m having to … put it this way, the ramp-up is quite quick to be here, so I couldn\u2019t go full out on the serve the last few weeks. I\u2019ve got used to maybe toning it down a little bit. I\u2019m not serving full out, pretty much.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he established a 6-4, 7-5 lead, Draper appeared to be moving towards a comfortable opening win, but he fell down an early break in the third set and vomited on two \u00adoccasions. Draper fought hard to force a tie-break and pulled himself to match point at 6-5 with the Argentinian serving. With the match on the line, the moment inspired G\u00f3mez\u2019s best level as his booming forehands found lines all over the court. After saving Draper\u2019s match point with a 99mph forehand winner, he spectacularly forced a fourth set.<\/p>\n

By the beginning of that set Draper\u2019s serve speeds had drastically reduced, his first serve often barely clearing 105mph, and he was tentative with his forehand, potentially a reflection of his caution with his left arm. But his fighting spirit is eternal regardless of how he feels on the court. After three difficult hours in Louis Armstrong Stadium, the British No 1 emerged with his first victory since Wimbledon.<\/p>\n

Federico Agust\u00edn G\u00f3mez fought his way back into the match in the third set. Photograph: John G Mabanglo\/EPA<\/p>\n

Many tougher challenges await as he tries to find his top level again in New York. For now, the most important thing is that he gave himself a chance to grow into the tournament by ending his afternoon with a win. \u201cI\u2019m not putting too much expectations on myself,\u201d Draper said. \u201cI\u2019ve put in the work. I know if I can get that level back, I\u2019m going to be tough to beat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those low expectations have been dictated by his difficulties over the past few weeks and the fact that he was not always sure he would even be able to compete in New York. Draper had been projected to return to \u00adcompetition after eight weeks, but he has managed to return one week early in time for the US Open.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think as I\u2019ve gotten closer to the tournament, me and my team, we\u2019ve had more scans, we\u2019re confident that I\u2019m not doing any more damage to my arm, and I\u2019m in a place where I can go out and compete. It\u2019s not going to set me back, so that\u2019s a real positive. That\u2019s all I can say.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Cameron Norrie returns a shot against Sebastian Korda before the American retired after two sets with back trouble. Photograph: Clive Brunskill\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Cameron Norrie maintained his positive run of form at grand slam tournaments by \u00adreaching the second round after his opponent Sebastian Korda retired while Norrie led 7-5, 6-4.<\/p>\n

In the women\u2019s draw, an emotional Petra Kvitova said farewell to professional tennis<\/a> as she fell 6-1, 6-0 in 52 minutes in defeat against Diane Parry of France. A two-time Wimbledon champion, Kvitova had announced that she would retire after the US Open. At 35, the Czech ends her career as one of the greatest players of her generation with two Wimbledon titles and 31 WTA titles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t expect myself [emotional], but since I wake up this morning, I felt it,\u201d Kvitova said. \u201cI felt it would be not good. I couldn\u2019t eat. I was really nervous. But in different way, I would say. I couldn\u2019t move, I couldn\u2019t swing, I couldn\u2019t do anything. It was really difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After 53 days without experiencing the tension, physicality and adrenaline of competing at the highest level of his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":96183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":{"0":"post-96182","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}