"It's quite scary to think about what he can achieve," says Draper about Fonseca

© AFP

Adrien Guyot

le 01/06/2025 à 07h16

2 min to read

Draper Fonseca Roland Garros

Jack Draper has reached the second week of Roland-Garros for the first time in his career. After his victories against Mattia Bellucci and Gaël Monfils, both in four sets, the Brit delivered a complete performance to defeat João Fonseca (6-2, 6-4, 6-2) and advance to the round of 16, where he will face Alexander Bublik.

In the press conference, the world No. 5 spoke about his Brazilian opponent, whom he defeated for the second time this season in as many encounters, and who was playing his first tournament at Porte d’Auteuil.

"It’s impressive to think he’s only 18. He’s close to breaking into the top 50, and he’s doing incredible things. Experiences like today’s will help him grow a lot.

I think he just needs a little time, but given how he’s playing right now, it’s quite scary to think about what he can accomplish. Of course, he still has room to improve physically.

Facing guys in the top 100 and having to beat them in best-of-three matches is a huge challenge when you’ve barely competed in tournaments like the Grand Slams.

It’s essential for him to go through this stage in his development. The key to my two wins against him (Indian Wells and Roland-Garros this year) is that I was able to withstand his attacks.

He felt he had to push harder, and that’s where you see he’s still young and needs to mature, especially physically. What I can say is that he won’t stop improving.

I wouldn’t dare say his playing style suits me because I feel like we’ll face each other very often in the coming years, and he’ll be even better than he is now.

For now, I can counter his game, but I’m sure in the future, if I want to beat him, I’ll have to play at an even higher level," concluded Draper, currently ranked No. 4 in the ATP Live rankings, for *Punto De Break*.