ATP Tour

Draper makes winning return in Eastbourne, with Murray watching on

Jack Draper made a winning return to the ATP Tour on Monday at the Lexus Eastbourne Open, where coach Andy Murray was watching closely from his player box.

Sidelined since April with a knee injury, Draper marked his comeback by defeating lucky loser Marcos Giron 6-4, 7-6(5) at the grass-court ATP 250 event. Fellow Brit and former World No. 1 Murray, who is working with the lefty throughout the grass season, observed closely during the opening-round encounter.

“Andy, truthfully, is one of my biggest inspirations,” Draper said. “When I was younger, I remember him playing all of the big events. When I came onto the Tour, we spent some time together and we have a great relationship off the court. He believes in my game. He believes in me as a person. That’s what I really need right now, coming back from the year I’ve had.”

Despite not having played competitively for more than two months, Draper showed flashes of the all-court game that helped him to a career-high No. 4 in the PIF ATP Rankings last year. One standout moment came in the opening set, when the 24-year-old defended superbly before unleashing a forehand winner from behind the baseline.

Draper was broken to love while attempting to serve for the match at 5-3 in the second set, but he responded impressively by sealing victory in a tie-break. Overall, he struck 30 winners and won 79 per cent (33/42) of points behind his first serve, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

With his 85-minute victory, Draper set a second-round meeting with British wild card Jack Pinnington Jones, who earlier saved a match point before defeating Marco Trungelliti 5-7, 6-3, 7-5. Draper is making just his second appearance at the ATP 250 event, having reached the semi-finals on his debut in 2022.

In other action on Monday in Eastbourne, Gabriel Diallo snapped a five-match tour-level losing streak by overcoming tricky lefty Terence Atmane 6-7(9), 6-4, 7-5. British qualifier Jan Choinski set a clash with top seed and four-time Eastbourne champion Taylor Fritz, having outlasted Alexei Popyrin 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 for his third tour-level win.