'To me, that is going to be a factor' — John McEnroe challenges Jack Draper to overcome one issue after French Open exit

Former world number one John McEnroe believes that ‘never got’ to Britain’s Jack Draper in his surprising defeat at the French Open. The 23-year-old was knocked out of the second Grand Slam of the year to Alexander Bublik with a score of 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

Former world number one and seven-time Grand Slam winner McEnroe, who is currently working for TNT Sports, spoke after the match, where he highlighted that the reigning world number five’s defeat was probably down to ‘nerves’ getting the better of him. The 66-year-old was of the opinion that dealing with such situations would determine whether Draper has what it takes to win multiple Grand Slams or not.

" I thought Draper would win for sure, as I was not sure if Bublik could stick with it mentally for long enough," said McEnroe. " It looked like the nerves got to Jack. It looked like Jack was stressing. He has been working on that. To me, that is going to be a factor in whether he wins multiple majors or not, to be able to handle those emotions. He was playing well, to me, and I was surprised that he was that stressed out."

The result would be a blow for Draper as he arrived in the competition on the back of some awe-inspiring performances in the recent past, including winning his maiden ATP 1000 title at Indian Wells and finishing as the runner-up in another ATP 1000 event, in Madrid. It was for this reason that many former and current players named him as one of the favourites to go all the way and challenge for the title in Paris this year.

On the other hand, the result is a significant boost for Bublik, who cemented a spot in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career. The 27-year-old will now face world number one Italy’s Jannik Sinner in the last-eight clash on Wednesday.