Jack Draper jumped into the top 10 of ATP Rankings for the first time in his career after his impressive win at the Indian Wells Masters, as became the only left-handed player in the list of the game\u2019s top male players.<\/p>\n
Yet a curious fact links both Draper and 22-time Grand Slam-winning legend Rafael Nadal\u00a0<\/a>as while both of them play tennis left-handed, they are natural right handers, as confirmed by Drapers mother Nicky.<\/p>\n \u201cBelieve it or not, he picked up a racket for the first time when he was just one and you could see from a very young age that Jack had incredible hand-eye coordination,\u201d Nicky told the LTA<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cHe has always played tennis left-handed. He writes right-handed, he was a right-handed thrower, but he always held a racket with his left hand and while I am often credited with starting Jack in tennis, but it was actually my Mum who was the inspiration.<\/p>\n \u201cShe played county tennis for Oxfordshire and Dorset and my brother also played at a good level and represented Great Britain, so tennis was a big part of our family when I had my sons Ben and Jack.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the time, I was coaching at Sutton Tennis and Squash Club and Jack used to come down and watch, probably starting when he was two and a half. I had started doing tiny tots sessions for kids who were as young as three and Jack would always join in. He loved other sports as a child, but tennis became a priority very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n Rafael Nadal reveals \u2018very special\u2019 gift as he joins a new social media platform<\/a><\/p>\n Analysing Rafael Nadal\u2019s grass-court record after his comment about playing on the surface<\/a><\/p>\n Draper reflects on his early days in tennis fondly, as he admits his move to play left handed has taken away what could have been a big weakness in his game.<\/p>\n \u201cWeirdly enough, my leftiness is a big plus, but I think the fact I\u2019m actually a right-hander, so I think that really helps me,\u201d he said last week.<\/p>\n \u201cMy forehand has been improving all the time. My forehand is naturally the shot where, you know, I\u2019m not as comfortable. It\u2019s always been my backhand which has been the shot, like, I can hit with my eyes closed, you know.<\/p>\n \u201cI really have no problem against any player with their forehand into my backhand. Usually, that\u2019s something where players struggle, but with myself, that\u2019s a big strength of mine. So I think the mix of that is a big advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n When aksed to explain why he is right-handed and plays tennis with his left hand prdominently, Draper simply smiles and says: \u201cI\u2019m just a weird guy\u201d.<\/p>\n One noticeable change in Draper over recent weeks and months has been in his dealing with the media and his reactions on court.<\/p>\n Naturally shy, he was often reluctant to open up in front of the media or express his joy and despair on court, as he preferred to bottle up his emotions.<\/p>\n That may have contributed to his physical issues on court, with former Britsh No 1 Tim Henman suggesting his ability to deal with pressure was crucial to moving to the next level.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, Jack\u2019s issues on court have not always been physical by are more mental,\u201d Sky Sports Tennis analyst Henman told Tennis365.<\/p>\n \u201cHe hasn\u2019t played too many long five-set matches in the Slams and I spoke to him after Australia last year and he said about the stress and anxiety you feel in those long matches.<\/p>\n \u201cThe outcome is always important for a professional athlete, but the process of getting there is just as important. If you do the process right, the outcome should go in your favour.<\/p>\n \u201cI think his performances at this year\u2019s Australia Open were so good for him mentally. He obviously missed some of the off-season, but he came through three five-set matches and that was a step forward.<\/p>\n \u201cTwelve months ago, you see him winning a fairly straightforward five-set match and he is vomiting on the court. That, to me, is 99 per-cent mental.<\/p>\n \u201cHe puts in so much work on the practice court and I\u2019ve seen him working so hard in training and in the gym.<\/p>\n \u201cSo to come through three five-setters when he was not in the best shape of his life was massive for him.<\/p>\n \u201cThat will give him so much belief that he can play the long matches.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you first play five-set matches and you lose a tough first set, I promise you it feels like a long way to the winning line.<\/p>\n \u201cYou are only a set down, but you still have to win three and wow, it feels like a long way off.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you have been through the process a few times, you start to understand how to deal with it mentally and that massively helps the body respond better to the challenge.<\/p>\n \u201cFor him to get through to the fourth round in those circumstances was brilliant and I feel he is only just scratching the surface in his career.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s not had a full season and has always had setbacks, but the way he is training the team he has around him, that won\u2019t happen as much.\u201d<\/p>\n Draper\u2019s is finding a way to balance his mental and physical challenges on court and the results were there for all to see as he won his first Masters 1000 title in Indian Wells and confirmed his status as a top 10 player who is here to stay.<\/p>\n READ NEXT: Novak Djokovic ranks five tennis legends \u2013 including Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The post Jack Draper\u2019s big similarity with Rafael Nadal as he makes \u2018weird guy\u2019 comment<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jack Draper jumped into the top 10 of ATP Rankings for the first time in his career after his impressive win at the Indian Wells Masters, as became the only left-handed player in the list of the game\u2019s top male players. Yet a curious fact links both Draper and 22-time Grand Slam-winning legend Rafael Nadal\u00a0as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}More Tennis News<\/h3>\n