British tennis star Jack Draper has channelled the calm of former Socceroos boss Ange Postecoglou as he revealed how he handled the “abuse” that came his way on a raucous night at the Australian Open.
And after taming one home favourite Thanasi Kokkinakis in a late-night five-setter on John Cain Arena, the No.15 seed reckoned he’ll welcome the Melbourne crowds pumping up the volume against him in the third round when he faces another ‘tennis Ashes’ battle against Sydneysider Aleksandar Vukic.
Draper admitted after his win that it had been “a tough atmosphere to deal with” as he battled to subdue the challenge from Kokkinakis before finally prevailing 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 3-6 7-5 6-3 over four-and-a-half hours.
“But I had a little bit of fun back too,” he added, recognising how he wound up the crowd when cupping his hands to his ears after breaking Kokkinakis to love as the Adelaide man was serving for the match at 5-4 in the decider.
“It was an electric atmosphere. Obviously getting quite a lot of abuse from the crowd in between serves the back of the court and all that sort of stuff,” he said.
When asked specifically what had been directed at him, Draper added: “they were saying some interesting things for sure. I don’t want to say. With the whistling and the talking, when you are about to serve, it’s really difficult.”
But Man United soccer fan Draper reckoned that he saw it all as “entertainment”, recalling how, just a few nights earlier on Sunday, he had watched on television the FA Cup tie between Tamworth and Tottenham when the Australian visiting boss Postecoglou was getting roundly abused by the home fans on the touchline.
“Everyone was getting on Ange’s back the other night, and he just stood there taking it. It’s good sport. It’s entertainment,” shrugged Draper.
“Sometimes you don’t want to sort of rile them or give it back. But it gave me energy doing that. It’s nice to sort of just give it like a bit of an ear or something like that.I have a thick skin. It’s fun.”
Actually, Postecoglou revealed on Tuesday that some of it hadn’t been fun at all.
He had not been happy with some of the comments aimed at him in Tamworth, saying: “the stuff I heard was pretty vile and detestable, and getting things thrown at me, not a great experience, but we’re kind of expected to be the bigger person.
“I would have loved to have turned around and not be the bigger person in that moment, but you deal with it and go on.”
Next up for Draper is Vukic, who enjoyed the best win of his career by knocking out 22nd seed, American Sebastian Korda – and the Brit is ready for more baiting.
Asked if the more Australians cheered against him, the better he would play, Draper, who’s building a reputation as a bit of a grand slam Aussie-killer following his win over Alex de Minaur at the US Open, smiled: “yeah, exactly.”
https://thewest.com.au/sport/tennis/brit-draper-channels-ange-to-deal-with-open-crowd-abuse-c-17402907
