Jack Draper admits ‘no physical abuse’ is the only rule in fiery tennis event
Exclusive: Patrick Mouratoglou discusses UTS
Jack Draper revealed that he was told he could do anything he wanted at this week’s unique Ultimate Tennis Showdown, except “physically abuse someone in the crowd.” The 21-year-old is making his debut at the feisty tennis event, where players have been encouraged to get riled up and smash their rackets.
Draper will be back playing in front of a home crowd in London for the UTS Grand Final, a tennis league that sees players score as many points as possible across four eight-minute-long quarters. As well as the format, the British No 4 is getting used to the loose restrictions where there is just one rule – no physical abuse.
On the regular tennis tour, players are penalised for verbal obscenities and smashing rackets but it’s a different story at the fiery tournament founded by Patrick Mouratoglou. “Yeah I mean I knew nothing about the rules until the briefing we had a bit earlier and they were saying smash as many rackets as you want, do whatever,” 21-year-old Draper said.
“The only thing that you can’t do is physically abuse someone in the crowd.” While Draper wasn’t going to be taking the chance to ruin his rackets, the world No 61 joked that he would have used the opportunity to recreate Eric Cantona’s infamous kung-fu kick.
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He added: “I was going to do an Eric Cantona on you guys! It seems like an amazing concept. I don’t think personally I will be smashing any rackets because I don’t have many but I think it is a great concept to be able to show your emotions and play freely. That’s, for me, what tennis should be about.”
Draper, who has been nicknamed ‘The Power’ for the UTS tournament, will face Holger ‘The Viking’ Rune in his first match on Friday. The world No 8 seems to be the perfect fit for the event given his feisty on-court personality, and it’s something that the Brit likes watching.
“I see people, especially on Twitter or whatever, going and getting annoyed at players for showing their emotions,” the 21-year-old explained. “And one thing I will say is that tennis is an incredibly difficult sport emotionally to try and understand.
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“There’s a lot of people watching, there’s a lot of money at stake, there’s TVs, there’s everything going on so people cope with that pressure in different ways. I feel like he’s always someone who has worn his heart on his shoulder and me personally I’d much rather see that than someone who sort of doesn’t give anything away and who is quite boring to watch so I think he’s great for the sport and I hope he’s around for years.”
Draper is now hoping that some of the innovations and relaxed rules could make their way onto the regular tennis circuit and find a place alongside the traditions seen at Wimbledon. The recent Sofia finalist continued: “I think tennis needs a mix between keeping the traditions of the sport like keeping the Wimbledon and the five sets and all that has a huge place within tennis.
“But I do think it needs to open itself up for instance in terms of the crowd should be able to move around and talk. They have that at the US Open really you wouldn’t know what’s going on. They’ve obviously tried to do different ideas in the Next Gen Finals and I think there is a few rules which tennis could include which would help the spectators of the game. Obviously it’s a bit difficult for the players like going out, no warm-up and first serve. But I think this concept is exciting and I don’t know what it’s going to be like, we’ll see.”
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