Battered Jack Draper forced to retire against ruthless Carlos Alcaraz at Australian Open
The British number one struggled with injury after three five-set matches in a row
Jack Draper succumbed to the brutal impact on his body at the Australian Open to retire after just two sets to exit in the fourth-round to a classy Carlos Alcaraz.
The British No. 1 lacked the pre-season training to build a resilient body in the energy-sapping heat of Melbourne, particularly after spending more than 12 and a half hours on court in a gruelling run to this point with three five-set matches.
But after a promising start to move to 2-2 with a resilient service game, a medical timeout after the first set appeared to spell the beginning of the end for Draper.
Alcaraz raced through the second set and led 7-5 6-1 before the 15th seed begrudgingly called time on his run down under and shook hands with his opponent, who is going for the career grand slam this week.
Draper had expressed pride in his improved physical resilience and he must hope he has not done any further damage that could affect the rest of his season.
The 23-year-old had been due to spend a training week with Alcaraz in Spain in December, but was forced to cancel because of the injury.
The Spaniard, who could now face Novak Djokovic, said: “It’s not the way that I wanted to get through. I’m just happy obviously to play another quarter-final but a little bit sad for Jack.
“He’s a really nice person, he doesn’t deserve to get injured. He couldn’t prepare at the start of the season well. I’m pretty sure he’s going to come back stronger as always he does and I just want to wish him a speedy recovery.”
With Djokovic again given his favoured night session slot, Draper was not helped by the scheduling as he was forced to play in the full heat of the warmest day of the tournament.
The 23-year-old revealed after battling past Aleksandar Vukic in a deciding tie-break at 1am on Saturday morning that he has been working with a breathing coach to try to improve his endurance.
He expected to feel sore and Draper certainly did not look at his most sprightly, but he saved four break points in his first two service games.
Alcaraz then fought off two chances for the British number one before finally breaking to lead 4-2, but the Spaniard was not at his brilliant best.
His fourth and fifth double faults of the set at 5-3, coupled with two errors, gave Draper the break back, but a forehand pass down the line clinched a set in which Alcaraz made 21 unforced errors.
Draper then called the trainer and headed off court, with Alcaraz using the time to talk to coach Juan Carlos Ferrero.
And the 21-year-old stepped up a gear at the start of the second set, while it became increasingly clear that Draper was struggling.
He was unable even to try to chase down balls, and, after briefly sitting down at the end of the set, he wisely decided not to continue.
The victory means Alcaraz equals the Open era record by reaching his 10th grand slam quarter-final before turning 22, joining Boris Becker, Mats Wilander and Bjorn Borg.