After over two months away from the court, Jack Draper made a triumphant comeback and defeated Federico Agustin Gomez 6-4, 7-5, 6-7(7) in the opening round of the US Open.
After successfully qualifying, the Argentine newcomer was competing in his first US Open main draw, but the Brit is back on the court.
Since the Brit is previous appearance was in the second round of Wimbledon, when he was unexpectedly defeated by Marin Cilic in early July, there was a lot of excitement surrounding his comeback. Due to an injury to his left arm, the world No. 5 had to miss the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open in the weeks before.
“I started feeling pain in the middle of the clay court season, feeling some sort of blockage in the arm when hitting forehands and serving. It worsened gradually, and it bothered me a lot during the grass season. I didn’t know what I was facing, so after Wimbledon, I underwent several tests,” Draper said during a press conference.
“What I had were hematomas in the humerus of the left arm. They told me that if I continued playing like that, I could face very, very serious problems. It hasn’t been easy, but it was good for me to be on a break, resting, and I could do many things. I went a month without serving, and after two and a half weeks, I was hitting from the baseline. I’ve been increasing my workload gradually. I know it’s a complicated injury that takes time to heal, but I won’t hold back at all when I’m competing,” he added.
Gomez Makes Draper Work Hard For The Win
After a difficult challenge at the US Open’s opening round, Jack Draper of Britain defeated Federico Gomez of Argentina 6-4 7-5 6-7(9) 6-2. Draper will undoubtedly be glad to have recovered from the injury, which kept him out of action for almost two months. In the seventh game, Draper broke serve and won the first set, making the first big move with some exquisite groundstrokes.
Then, in the third game of the second set, Draper smashed the Gomez serve to seal the victory. And with a spectacular forehand winner, he quickly secured the set. At the beginning of the third set, Gomez broke the 23-year-old’s serve to take a 3-0 lead. However, as the set proceeded to a tie-break in the seventh game, the Briton responded. Gomez rallied back, assisted by one incredible forehand winner down the line when he was on the stretch, but Draper regained the lead early on, leading 3-0.
Draper was unable to convert a match point, and Gomez ultimately won the set to stay in the match with some power hitting. After that, though, the underdog lost steam, and Draper quickly declared victory to advance to the second round.