Jack Draper made a winning return to competition with new coach Andy Murray in his box, and revealed that he was the one who asked the former world No. 1 to join his team. The 24-year-old Brit, sidelined since April due to injury, beat lucky loser Marcos Giron 6-4 7-6 at the Eastbourne Open on Monday.
Draper battles through second-set wobble
Draper blew a 5-2 lead in the second set but regrouped to earn his first win since March. The current world No. 160, who was ranked as high as No. 4 a year ago, said: "It's a great feeling. Hopefully I can keep on building my tennis, my body, and my momentum from here."
"In some ways, it's maybe a good thing that I lost a bit of concentration at 5-2 in the second. Then I was put in a situation where I needed to up my level and be in a tight situation in a match, which can help moving forwards. If I'd have won that set 6-2, even though it would be a great thing, I maybe wouldn't have had that challenge."
Murray's presence a 'real boost'
Former world No. 1 Murray sat courtside alongside James Trotman, an LTA coach who worked with Draper for years. Draper jokingly told the crowd: "I haven't called him 'Sir' yet, that's not going to happen." He later added: "Andy is a huge inspiration for me. I think it's comforting to have him there. I don't feel any kind of added nerves or anything. If anything, it's a real boost, it's a real confidence feeling to have him there."
How the partnership came about
Explaining how their mouthwatering partnership came to be, the three-time ATP title winner said: "With Andy, I went to him and I approached him and I sort of told him that I'd love to have him in my team. Obviously, he's got family, he's got other things going on and he wanted to make sure that we sort of aligned on some of those things. Which we did."
"I think, yeah, it very much came from me and it was nice to see very quickly that Andy really wanted to also help me and wanted to be in my corner and believed in me and my game, my tennis. Also, we just have a great relationship off the court as well, which is nice."
Next up: all-British clash
Draper will now play another Brit, Jack Pinnington Jones, who beat Marco Trungelliti 5-6 6-3 7-5. The world No. 145, who played college tennis at TCU, said: "He's a good friend of mine. I want to win. I want to hold it over him."
"Drapes is an example, when I'm telling him I'm struggling in these moments and in tight three-setters, I feel like I haven't got the results I'd like. He was pretty candid and said 'Well, I'd love to be in those positions', when he was injured. It sort of gave me a fresh perspective of, I'm lucky to be in these positions."
Other British players progress
Dan Evans, who will retire at Wimbledon this summer, moved a step closer to the main draw after beating Bolivia's Juan Carlos Prado Angelo 7-6 6-3 in qualifying. Ollie Tarvet, Billy Harris, Henry Searle and Max Basing also advanced to the second round of the preliminary event.
