Jack Draper smashes racket in Paris Masters outburst and gets told off | Tennis | Sport

Jack Draper was slapped with a warning from the umpire after destroying his racket at the Paris Masters.

The British No. 1 found himself in a tough spot against Alex de Minaur as they faced off in the round of 16.

After taking the first set, Draper was dragged into a decider. And he unleashed his frustration after going down an early break.

After getting off to a strong start, things started to unravel for Draper in Paris-Bercy. The world No. 15 edged a close first set against De Minaur but the Australian stepped it up in set two, breaking twice to take it 6-2.

He carried his momentum into the third and final set, breaking immediately as Draper failed to convert a game point. The Brit was visibly annoyed after letting his opponent take the advantage and unleashed his anger on his racket.

After netting the ball at the end of a long rally, a defeated Draper headed to his bench to change ends and smashed his racket into the seat, destroying it. As he rooted around in his bag for a new one, the chair umpire gave him an unsportsmanlike conduct warning.

“That is a racket that is not going to be much use anymore,” Nick Lester said on Sky Sports commentary.

Naomi Broady added: “Sometimes it’s the emotional fatigue as well, isn’t it? Just boiling over.

“The frustration, the early break down, the work he knows now he has to put into this match to come out on the other end when he’s feeling fatigued now. Hands on his knees at the end of that rally.”

The unleash of emotion seemed to do Draper some good as he got back on serve at 2-2. But he immediately relinquished the break and another error gave De Minaur the lead again.

The 22-year-old looked exhausted as he returned to his bench for the changeover, taking his cap off and leaning over to catch his breath before refuelling with electrolytes. He eventually went down 5-7 6-2 6-3 as De Minaur broke one final time to take it.

Draper was playing his eighth match in the space of 10 days and all the tennis clearly started to catch up with the young Brit.

He lifted his second career title and first at ATP 500 level in Vienna on Sunday. Two days later, he was back in action at the Paris Masters, beating Jiri Lehecka on Tuesday.

And he played deep into the evening on Wednesday, overcoming No. 5 seed Taylor Fritz in three sets. But he seemed to be running out of gas against De Minaur.