"Against the the top players you get less and less chance": Jack Draper aims to outlast Carlos Alcaraz in Australian Open

Jack Draper shared insights on his physical condition and looked ahead to his fourth-round clash against Carlos Alcaraz at the Australian Open. The British No. 1 emerged victorious from another gruelling five-set battle, defeating home favourite Aleksandar Vukic 6-4, 2-6, 5-7, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (10-8).

The 15th seed will face Alcaraz for the fourth time, with the Spaniard leading their head-to-head 2-1. Their last meeting was on the grass courts of the Queen’s Club Championships, where Draper ended Alcaraz’s 13-match winning streak on the surface. This time, the battle will be on hard court and in a best-of-five format, adding a new dimension to their rivalry.

After three five-setters, Draper aims for upset against Alcaraz

The World No. 15 has proven to be one of the great talents on the Tour, showing he has what it takes to climb even higher—provided physical issues, which have plagued much of his career, don’t get in the way.

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At the last US Open, he reached the semi-finals, losing to eventual champion Jannik Sinner. Remarkably, all his matches were decided in straight sets, as he secured five consecutive wins before being eliminated by the Italian, also in straight sets.

This time, Draper has played three consecutive five-set matches, making him the only player in the fourth round to have competed in a total of 15 sets. This includes a gruelling five-hour battle against Thanasi Kokkinakis in the second round. After defeating home favourite Aleksandar Vukic in the third round, Draper expressed pride in his physical condition:

"I'm very, very proud of my efforts from the physical part of things. I'm obviously not feeling incredibly fresh right now, but I'll recover again. I'll do my best to go again for another one."

Draper previews Australian Open showdown

Meanwhile, Alcaraz has had a relatively smooth run. The Spaniard dropped only an average of two games per set in his first two rounds and, despite losing a set in the third round against Nuno Borges, advanced comfortably.

"Carlos is a special talent, an unbelievable player and someone I have a good friendship with," Draper said about the 4-time Grand slam champion. "It's going to be an incredible match; hopefully my body pulls up, I can give it my all and it will be a great contest."

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Draper arrives with a total of 12 hours and 34 minutes on court, more than double Alcaraz’s 6 hours and 10 minutes. The 23-year-old Brit emphasised that he will need to play at his very best to defeat the Spaniard again and reach the quarter-finals of a Major once more.

“I know what to expect from him he's going to come out with a lot of energy and obviously he's a special talent. I need to to be aggressive, I need to take my chances. Against the the top players you get less and less chances to to win games and sets and all these sort of things “

“I need to be brave in in the way I play, but I'm expecting him to come out and you know, that I've played three five-setters,” he added.” He’s got battle on his hands and he’s going to have to play good, so it’ll be a great contest, I’m sure,” Jack Draper concluded

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