Jack Draper faces Carlos Alcaraz in the Australian Open fourth round (Image: Getty)
has been told he needs to be “brave” and “suffer” to shock at the on Sunday, his Davis Cup captain has claimed. “His heart’s massive,” said Leon Smith.
The French and champion, 21, is seeking to break ’s record and become the youngest ever man to complete a career Grand Slam. And the Spanish superstar has a winning 2-1 record against Draper although the British No.1 won their last meeting on the grass at Queen’s Club last summer.
Draper has spent 12 hours and 34 minutes on court in Melbourne so far this week after playing three five-set epics. And he will face the Spanish superstar in the heat of the day in the third match in the Rod Laver Arena on Sunday afternoon.
But Leon Smith insisted: “Jack can draw on his Queen’s win – and I think the other times he’s played on even those that were a little bit different.
“I was actually with him when he played him for the first time in Basel. It was 7-5 in the third. But now it’s different. Jack’s different, but you got to learn from those matches, what worked well, what didn’t work so well.
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“The main focus is going to be on Jack executing serve plus one. And then Carlos got very good second serve, so you’re not always going to get massive looks on that, but that’s your moment to try and be brave on those second serve points.
“But you got to take care of your service games, be very, very offensive and understand you’re gonna have to defend which Jack does. There’s moments that you’re going to have to suffer which Jack’s prepared to do, but it’s the other side that you’re going to have to do extremely well.”
Smith sat in the new courtside coaching pod for the third-round win over Aleksandar Vukic – his second win over an Aussie here following his rowdy victory over Thanasi Kokkinakis.
“He’s still a young man, but he’s obviously been on tour now for a few years, and he’s played big matches,” added the Scot. “So he he is accustomed to it, but you’re still trying to manage yourself through those. So that Kokkinakis match, you’re trying to not expend too much energy early on the match, getting too fired up.
“You think back to Andy in his younger days, very younger days, Gasquet match, that sort of thing, going absolutely crazy early on in the sets. But now you have to manage yourself because it’s so long, the matches. But then at the right time, coming out of your shell and expressing yourself then also raises the level of your game at the right time.
Jack Draper is the last Brit standing and has played three five-setters so far (Image: Getty)
“He played the crowd just perfectly in that Kokkinakis match. I think he waited for the moment that he needed to do it to then raise his level. His competitiveness is… it’s like sitting through some of those Andy matches, what we saw this week.
“It is reminiscent of that, the ebbs and flows and the drama that goes with it. When the chips are down, he comes out with something ridiculous. His heart’s massive. When you’re sitting in those coaches pods, sitting there courtside, you see the effort level that he puts in to get to to some balls, especially when you look him on the wide backhands.
“Some of those ones where he’s so out of position, and it’s that end range. And he’s managing to deflect it with purpose, and it’s so impressive. It’s a physical thing, but it’s also a desire to get there, get behind the ball and make something happen, which is so impressive.”
Draper missed pre-season and the United Cup with a hip injury. And Smith added: “First of all, he’s obviously done incredibly well based on how his pre-season went. Some do it where they don’t play anything, and they work their way into the tournament. He’s someone that he typically plays the week before.
“So I guess the concern was going to be that, but the Mariano Navone match probably set him up. There was a lot of long rallies, he had to dig deep, but the second-round match was crazy. I actually think the atmosphere in there is brilliant. I absolutely love it.
Carlos Alcaraz is one of the main Australian Open title contenders (Image: Getty)
“But I think he handled it really well. He’ll still know that he can do things better. He’s doing stuff that people would have questioned before. I think it’s a different kind of achievement. And I think that’s going to set him up really well, because he’s got so much talent that he can make the adaptations to his game.
“And he’s gonna have to in the next match. He’s gonna have to get after the ball, be very, very positive with the ball, be very brave in the points, because you’re not gonna out-rally so much Carlos. So he’s gonna have to be very, very brave.
“But I think when all things are considered, to get through three matches like that is great from here. It’s a great start to the year. You make a fourth round. It’s good points, it’s good confidence. It sets him up for the year really, really well.
“So that’s a good start, but I think it’s going to help him afterwards at the other slams, knowing that those worries about my physical endurance… don’t worry about that. Now I’m going to add layers to my game.”