By Tony Fairbairn
- Stan Wawrinka def Andy Murray 6-4 6-4 6-2
- Jesper De Jong [Q] def Jack Draper 7-5 6-4 6-7(3) 1-6 6-3
- Andy Murray was ‘disappointed’ with his performance against Stan Wawrinka while Jack Draper has plenty of work to do on his serve.
PARIS, FRANCE – Andy Murray and Jack Draper were left ‘disappointed’ and ‘hurt’ respectively after opening round heartbreak at Roland Garros.
 |
Starting with Andy Murray as the former finalist made his last appearance at Roland Garros as he aimed for an encouraging performance despite minimal preparation.
The former world number one has been recovering from an injury he suffered in Miami and only competed in two tournaments before coming to Roland Garros.
Expectation was low and that met the end result as Murray was well and truly beaten by 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka in straight sets.
There were some encouraging signs for Murray on serve as he showed some aggressive play at times but Wawrinka’s point construction and power was too much for Murray in the important points.
After being narrowly edged out in the opening two sets, failing to convert his chances on return, Murray’s lack of match practice was evident in the final set as he limped out of the tournament.
Speaking after his straight sets, Murray couldn’t hide his disappointment and spoke about where his physical conditioning is at.
“I wish I could have done a little bit better,” Murray explained to The Guardian after the match.
“Disappointed, but I didn’t have extremely high expectations with the way, you know, the preparation had been coming in. But obviously I would have liked to have done better tonight.
“My body isn’t what it was, 10 years ago. I’m fully aware of that. It takes a lot of time and effort to get it in a position to go out there and compete. It’s not always perfect. But it is what it is and I still enjoy giving a go and trying to get myself out there and be as competitive as possible.”
Murray will now make a decision on whether he will play doubles with Dan Evans as they are due to play Sebastian Baez and Thiago Seyboth Wild in the opening round.
However Murray’s next scheduled tournament will be starting his grass court season in Stuttgart the week after Roland Garros where he will aim for a big four weeks where he has high hopes of a deep run at Wimbledon.
 |
Draper aiming for serving confidence after hurtful Roland Garros exit
Murray was not the only Brit to exit Roland Garros on day one as Jack Draper fell to a five set defeat to Jesper De Jong.
The Brit had high hopes having produced some encouraging performances on clay over the course of the last few weeks.
However Draper found himself two sets down against an aggressive and proactive De Jong, who qualified for the event.
Draper managed to turn the tide though as he edged out a third set tiebreak and cruised through the fourth set.
The deciding set had many twists and turns as Draper managed to recover from an early break down.
However the 22 year-old was too passive when it really mattered as the world number 176 clinched victory in four hours and 12 minutes, the longest match of Draper’s career so far.
After the match Draper spoke about the lack of confidence on serve and what needs to be done to improve as well acknowledging his improvement in conditioning.
“My serve has been a problem this year. I’m trying to change it to make it better, and I’ve made those changes in the last few weeks,” Draper told The Daily Mail.
“So it’s not comfortable, especially in a Grand Slam playing in a fifth set on a second serve. The confidence isn’t there at the moment on my serve and it’s a problem I’m going to have to work on with coaches and see where I can make it more consistent because it’s really letting me down.
“The frustrating thing is I feel like I’m missing my serves by such a small distance every time and I can’t wrap my head around how that’s possible. This loss hurts a lot. I’ve played a long match there. Felt physically great. I look at the positives on that side, but my tennis… I know I’m so much better than how I played today, and that’s what hurts.
“We have to have a short-term memory in tennis and there will be more opportunities to come. I just hope I can learn from this loss.”
Since the start of the year Draper has been working with coach Wayne Ferreira who has been helping the Brit with his serve and being more proactive.
Despite moving to 39 in the world, Draper believes his game is much better than where his ranking is at and knows he will only climb further up the rankings if he can maintain his current progression.
“When you are used to playing in a defensive way for all your life, it’s really difficult to see tennis in a different way,” Draper explained to The Daily Mail.
“I’ve got I got to 35 in the world playing the way I have, but I don’t want to be stuck between 20 and 50 all my career. I want to be a top player. Things have to change, and that’s going to take time. We spoke about it before: these tournaments, it’s going to be very strange competing and playing.
“I really believe I want to do things differently. I want to play more aggressively, I want to take it to the opponent a bit more. Even in the match today at certain times it was there, but it’s not consistent. It’s very up and down at the moment.”
Draper will feel that the perfect time to practice that consistency and aggression on serve will be the grass court season as he will compete at Wimbledon for the first time in two years after missing last year’s tournament.
The next tournament for Draper will also be in Stuttgart which starts on the 10th of June.
How to Watch/Follow Roland Garros 2024
| Live Stream | Discovery+ Add-on via Amazon Prime
Sign up for 30 day free trial of Prime Video and a 7-day free trial of Discovery+ Player |
| Live Scores | Tennis Scores Powered By TNNSLIVE |
 Sign up to PBLC for free to support ongoing contributions from Britwatch Sports |
| Follow Britwatch - Sport in General, Brits in Particular! | |
|---|---|
| Soundcloud | |
| YouTube | |
| We may receive compensation for products purchased via affiliate links on this website | |