In his latest column, our Global Tennis Ambassador gives his thoughts on Jack Draper’s improvement, Jannik Sinner’s impending return and Mirra Andreeva’s potential.
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There are a lot of massive names who are searching for form at the Miami Open. Alexander Zverev would tell you that he hasn’t played great since Australia, and it feels like it would’ve been the 1990s when Novak Djokovic would have last lost in the first round two tournaments in a row.
They are some massive names who have been in the semis of Australia recently, so the form is there, but they’re just trying to find a little bit more.
I said before Indian Wells that it was going to be wide open with Jannik Sinner being gone, and in Jack Draper and Holger Rune we had the 13 seed and the 12 seed in the final, which you hadn’t really seen since the early 2000s. It is exciting and if you’re in the field you’ve got to feel like you have a shot to make a run.
Draper has improved in so many areas
Jack Draper was phenomenal in Indian Wells. He’s improved so much with his fitness, his backhand and a lot of other areas. People get into lazy narratives just because he has a big lefty serve, but he was breaking serve all the time and that’s something that he’s improved upon. His return position in Indian Wells was like from where Rafa [Nadal] used to return.
I love Draper’s process and I love the way he’s working, but I don’t like to skip steps so I wouldn’t say that he’s definitely proven himself as a top player. If I’m him, I’m going, “OK, I’ve proven I can beat everyone in the world. I’ve beaten Alcaraz in a tournament that he loves, I’ve made the semis of a major.”
That big breakthrough is often making your first really deep run in a Slam and dealing with the physicality of five sets. It was probably 2003 Australia for me where I won back-to-back, monster five-setters and came back from two sets and a break down. Believing in your body and knowing that it can stay there, and you’re not having to compromise decision making to shorten points, that’s a big deal.
You can’t force belief, but I’ve got to think it’s starting to come in at a pretty accelerated rate for Draper. In Australia this year, getting through those five-setters when he wasn’t even playing his best shows his body can withstand the wear and tear of three-out-of-five, which maybe we didn’t know before.
Now, is clay going to be a place where he thrives? We don’t know. But as we approach the French Open he’s certainly in the area of that top five in the next tier right below Jannik Sinner, and for my money there’s no reason why he can’t establish himself there further.
Rome is the perfect place for Sinner’s return
Sinner will return at the Italian Open, and his home crowd in Rome is going to go nuts. With the amount of support and fame that he has in Italy, I’m not sure there could have been a better place for him to come back. He’s played well in Turin and won the ATP Finals there, but he didn’t play Rome last year so they haven’t seen Jannik since he’s become the best player in the world.
I’m not worried about any noise around his return affecting him, because that’s been there since last year’s U.S. Open and he won two majors in that time. I think he has the respect of people in the locker room, even if they disagree with the confusing nature of the doping protocols and what they may view as inconsistencies. Maybe you have a couple of yahoos who are more interested in tweeting opinions than actually reading facts, but Jannik is pretty understated. I don’t think he’s going to walk in with any sort of combative nature.
The fact is he’s coming back, but he’ll be coming back on the surface that is probably not his favourite. That doesn’t mean he’s not great on it, but he’s judged against his own shadow and if there’s anything concrete under his feet then he’s dominant.
His preparation for Paris will likely be affected. I don’t think you can be out for three months and come back as if nothing has changed. Maybe it’s like riding a bike, but I don’t think playing a normal schedule and not playing for three months are the same.
Zverev now in a tough position
I don’t know that Alex Zverev would feel pressure to perform while Sinner is out. From what I see, his recent form is more about trying to be aggressive on the forehand side because maybe there are question marks about him going all the way.
I don’t envy his position because it’s now win a Slam or bust. It’s almost as if people aren’t concerned about all his semi-finals. He had two big weeks in Australia, made the final and people are still only talking about the fact that he hasn’t won a Slam. For me, that’s tough, and I relate to it, but I don’t know that he’s too concerned about Sinner. I think he’s probably concerned about getting through his next opponent in Miami.
Andreeva is a future World No. 1
What impresses me most about Mirra Andreeva is her ability to stand up physically against the best players in the world. I thought that physicality was going to take some time. It’s not eash when you’re trying to beat people as physically dominant as Sabalenka and Sviatek and you’re 17. I’ve never questioned her tennis, but she’s serving now like she’s levelled up amazingly well in the last four or five months.
She’s able to open up the shoulders on the forehand cross, her movement is already elite and there aren’t a lot of holes in her game. I don’t know that anyone ever really questioned her tennis IQ, which is crazy to say about someone who’s 17.
I said on our show a month ago that I thought she looks like a future World No. 1 for sure. I don’t like to jump from winning in Dubai to Steffi Graf comparisons – that seems like we’re skipping a couple of years – but just based on how she’s playing, she’s going to be firmly in the conversation to be one of the top couple of players this year.
She seems like she’s fluent on all surfaces, she had a great run at Roland Garros last year and it seems like she’s fine matching up against the top players in the world. Everything points to her being a contender sooner than later.
Swiatek didn’t need to make a statement
Iga Swiatek’s been in the news after nearly hitting a ball kid with a ball, and I don’t think she needed to respond to her critics at length on social media. I think she’s a very thoughtful person, and I don’t think she’s irresponsible in thought at all and no decision she comes to is by accident. I think if she would have just said, “hey, I messed up. I almost hit a ball kid. That’s my bad,” I don’t know that anyone would have really gone much further than that.
I can’t imagine anything worse than getting an e-mail that says you tested positive for something like melatonin, where it was unintentional and she has since been proven innocent. That would have been the biggest disaster that I could receive. Her big statement felt like it was like it was less about the ball kid, more about her just getting everything out.
Again, we’re dissecting someone who has made the semis in Australia, the semis of Indian Wells and has played fine this year, and that’s all before we get to clay, where she is invincible. Each year is different, but if someon wanted to take anyone against her at the French Open I’d be happy to take that bet.