FURIOUS Jack Draper crashed out of the French Open amid a flurry of foul language and double faults.
And following the longest match of his life â and worst Slam defeat in terms of ranking â the bamboozled Brit admits he will reconstruct his serve in the weeks before Wimbledon.
The Sutton southpaw, 22, was eliminated 7-5 6-4 6-7 3-6 6-3 in four hours and six minutes by unknown Dutch debutant Jesper de Jong.
In his final service game, he double faulted â for the ninth time in total â and received a time violation for slow serving.
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Angry with himself, Draper dropped THREE F bombs on Court 12 before being shocked by the world No.176 â the lowest-ranked opponent to eliminate him from one of the four majors.
Draper, who felt tight in his body in the early exchanges, said: âIâm obviously extremely disappointed right now. This loss hurts a lot.
âIâve played a long match there. Felt physically great. I look at the positives on that side but my tennis, I know Iâm so much better than how I played.
âWe have to have a short-term memory in tennis and there will be more opportunities to come.â
In a contest marred by an hour-and-a-half rain delay, Draper did well to take it to a fifth set, the second time that has happened at Tour Level.
Draper is known for being a big, powerful server but he cannot fathom why he is missing the mark so consistently these days.
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And he has four weeks until the Championships begin in SW19 to discover the right formula.
By going out early, he missed out on a second-round date with reigning Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz.
The Spaniard, 21, thrashed American JJ Wolf 6-1 6-2 6-1 but is managing a right arm issue, which sees him wearing a sleeve.
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The British No.2 said: âMy serve has been a problem this year. Iâm trying to change it to make it better. Itâs not comfortable.
âYou know, the confidence isnât there at the moment on my serve.
âItâs a problem Iâm going to have to work on with coaches and see where I can make it more consistent because itâs really letting me down.
âThe serve was a real problem. It kind of felt like I was returning. I was playing without a serve. Obviously very frustrated with a lot of things.
âI just hope that I can learn from this loss and keep on progressing in the right direction.
âIâve got to 35 in the world playing the way I have but I donât want to be stuck between 20 and 50 all my career.
âI want to be a top player. Things have to change and thatâs going to take time.
âI feel like Iâm missing my serves by such a small distance every time and I canât wrap my head around how thatâs possible.â
