Alexander Bublik, Jack Draper`s upcoming opponent at the French Open, doesn`t sound very confident about his chances against the surging British No. 1, but he intends to give it his best effort.
Draper advanced to the fourth round to face Bublik on Monday after defeating Brazilian prospect João Fonseca in straight sets.
World No. 62 Bublik also secured his spot with a straight-sets win over Henrique Rocha, setting up a potential quarter-final clash with top seed Jannik Sinner.
Bublik praised Draper, stating, “Jack for me is insane. I mean, last year the guy was 40 in the world. This year he is top five in the world. That`s a crazy achievement.”
He added, “He doesn`t seem to stop, so I mean, what do I have to do to beat him? I don`t know.”
“I will just go there, enjoy the time, show what I`m capable of showing,” Bublik continued, “and we all know what I`m capable of doing on court, and then we see how it goes. This is the approach I have now, and Jack is a great sportsman, great person.”
This season has marked a career-best for Draper, highlighted by his first ATP 1000 title win at Indian Wells and a runner-up finish at the Madrid Open.
His strongest Grand Slam performance occurred last year at the US Open, where he reached the semi-finals before falling to eventual champion Sinner.
Draper and Bublik have faced each other twice previously on the ATP Tour, with Draper winning both encounters at Queen`s Club in 2021 and Adelaide in 2024.
Reflecting on their history, Bublik said, “I know him since I played him in the qualifiers of Queen`s in 2018 or something (Bublik won a three-set match in 2019). He was a little kid. Then when he beat me in Queen`s, and he told me `I finally got you`. I said `let`s speak when you`re in the top 50`, because he was like 300 in the world, and now he`s top five. So now I have to have some courage to play, and we`ll see how it goes.”
In other British tennis news, Cameron Norrie also reached the fourth round, defeating fellow Brit Jacob Fearnley.
Norrie`s next challenge is a match against the 24-time Grand Slam champion, Novak Djokovic.
Norrie commented on his achievement, saying, “To make the second week for the first time is so, so good and at a time where I was not really stringing a lot of matches and a lot of wins together. I was able to build from the momentum that I`ve really struggled to get from the last year and a half, for different reasons. So I think it was really fun and a really good week so far, and there`s still plenty of tennis to be played, which I`m excited for.”
