‘One of toughest losses’ – Draper exits Wimbledon early again

After suffering a shock second-round defeat by Marin Cilic, 36, the British number one’s search for a breakout Wimbledon run continues.

Croatia’s Cilic, who reached the SW19 final in 2017, lost to fourth seed Draper, who is now ranked 83rd in the world, 6-4, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4.

In any of his four appearances at the All England Club, the Englishman, 23, has not yet advanced to the third round.

Draper, Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner, and Carlos Alcaraz, were all thought to be the men’s title contenders.

However, Draper has experienced yet another obstructing early exit in his first Championships since Andy Murray’s time.

“I feel] really upset, [of course]. One of my toughest losses, according to a sensitive Draper at a press conference.

“From beginning to end, I thought Cilic played a fantastic match.” ]He] didn’t let up. He deserved victory, I believe.

Cilic, who had a huge serve and deep returns in the opening two sets, was the semi-finalist of the US Open and was immediately pushed backwards.

Draper needed to win a professional match from set zero in order to take on the player in a position he had never previously held.

The home favorite took control of the third set thanks to a slower pace from Cilic, but Draper’s wily opponent recovered to win a tense match.

Draper firmly believed he could handle the scrutiny of being the nation’s greatest hope as he prepared for the Grand Slam tournament that he hosted.

After making it to the Queen’s semi-finals, Draper regained his position as the world’s number four.

As the title-heavy favorites, he was guaranteed to avoid world number one Sinner or two-time defending champion Alcaraz until at least the semi-finals as fourth seed.

However, Draper was quick to warn against overdoing the seeding until the draw was conducted, and he was correct.

In his opening match on Tuesday, the Briton did not have much luck, dominating clay-court expert Sebastian Baez by one set and a half before the Argentine retired hurt.

However, Cilic’s looming role was always going to be more problematic.

Due to Cilic’s flawless execution of his game plan, Draper had to take the racquet out of his hand during the opening two sets.

Working wonders, Draper excelled at using depth from the ground up, especially when he put pressure on his opponent’s backhand.

Although his first serve prevented three break points at 4-3 down, Draper couldn’t get his forehand to where he should have it when the opener set came to an end.

Draper lost serve once more early in the second set, which turned out to be a decisive break as the clouds started to gather over Court One and the atmosphere became more gloomy.

Draper is eagerly anticipating his Murray moment at Wimbledon, where he accomplishes the unthinkable at the All England Club and creates waves all over the country during the summertime.

When Richard Gasquet and the Scots came back from set down in 2008, Murray-mania exploded.

It might have been a similar kind of moment for Draper if he had turned things around for Cilic.

The Briton immediately began to worry about Cilic’s name appearing in Draper’s section of the Wimbledon draw.

The tall Croat, who was the only Grand Slam winner at the 2014 US Open, has since suffered a serious knee injury and dropped down the rankings.

Cilic’s career might have come to an end with a second operation in May of last year.

However, he has shown great perseverance to return to the game, and he dropped to the second-tier ATP Challenger to start over.

He showed promise by winning the Nottingham title last month, which he could still do well on the grass.

Few people, however, would have anticipated that he would defeat Draper.

“My emotions are unimaginable. I can’t even describe where I was two years ago. He claimed that the journey has been “long.”