"It was a pretty solid performance," Draper rejoices after his victory against Bellucci at Roland Garros

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Adrien Guyot

le 28/05/2025 à 07h04

2 min to read

Bellucci Draper Roland Garros

Jack Draper secured his first-ever career victory at Roland Garros this Tuesday. The British player, ranked 5th in the world, took a set to truly settle into the tournament but eventually overpowered Mattia Bellucci (3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2), delivering 43 winners against 26 unforced errors.

The 23-year-old will now face Gaël Monfils in the next round. However, before taking on the Frenchman, he appeared at a press conference and reflected on his win against the Italian.

"It was a pretty solid performance overall. The first set was tough. Actually, I had already played him last year in Tokyo, and I had one of my best matches of the season. I knew he was a good player, capable of pulling off incredible shots where there’s not much you can do.

In the first set, I made a few double faults here and there, and he played well enough to capitalize on all my mistakes. I think from that point on, I did a good job adjusting, and I kept improving as the match went on.

That’s why I’m very happy with my performance today. The mindset is different in Grand Slam tournaments. When you lose the first set, you don’t panic because you know you have time to come back. I was able to patiently build my strategy to turn the match around.

At the start, I wasn’t playing great tennis, and he was really in the match. I knew it would be a long battle and there was still a lot to do. I’m starting to understand more and more that in best-of-three matches, I tend to be quite aggressive and at my best all the time, whereas in Grand Slams, I can’t play like that because the matches are longer.

I think I did a good job staying calm, knowing my game would improve, that I was well-prepared, and that things would fall into place," Draper elaborated in recent hours for the media outlet *Punto De Break*.