Jack Draper has revealed he “couldn’t hear the ball” at times during his second-round defeat to Jakub Mensik at the Miami Open. The Brit lost in straight sets against his teenage opponent, during a match that was marred by crowd chaos.
The contest had been brought to a halt after hoards of Brazillian tennis fans in attendance to watch Joao Fonseca realised the teenager was playing on a different court. Fonseca, who would later in the day beat Ugo Humbert in straight sets, had been due to play on Draper’s court, but the match was moved to the main stadium at the last minute.
It came after the fans had been making quite the racket throughout Draper’s game – something his referenced in his post-match debrief. Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: “I didn’t really know what was going on it was getting quite loud, couldn’t really hear the ball being hit.
“I think those Brazilian fans had been in the stadium all day waiting for him [Fonseca] to play and then obviously they changed the court. It’s not ideal I can understand their frustration, we had to stop for a bit.”
However, he did have plenty of sympathy for the supporters who were out in their masses to support Fonseca. The 22-year-old continued: “It’s so good [the support], especially at this tournament where I don’t feel like the crowd attendance is amazing, it’s not fair on them if they can’t get on that centre court. I can understand their frustration, I was just confused as to what was going on.”
Responding to the incident while courtside, Sky Sports pundit Laura Robson said: “You absolutely can’t believe it. The boos are very much justified because it’s just been announced that Fonseca and Humbert is moving to stadium court. All these Brazilian fans have been sat here for hours and hours are now just finding out and they’re trying to head over. The queues are going to be outrageous trying to get in.
“You feel so bad for them and it just makes it really difficult for the two players on court. There’s so much drama happening around the crowd and they’re just trying to play tennis. Just absolute scenes out here!”
Regardless, it’s another feather in the cap of Mensik, who has now secured six victories against opponents ranked inside the top 10. The gleeful Czech said post-match: “The most important thing was the serve today. That was the key. I knew it was going to be tough in the tie-breaker and the fans were tough today so I tried to stay focused. It was an important time of the match so I had to keep focus.”
The 19-year-old will go head-to-head with Roman Safiullin for a place in the last-16 after the Russian star defeated Alexei Popyrin in his round two clash.