Jack Draper beats Carlos Alcaraz at Queen’s to end the Spaniard’s winning streak on grass

Carlos Alcaraz’s 13-match winning streak on grass is over and was ended by home favorite Jack Draper in the second round of the Cinch Championships on Thursday afternoon.

Draper, who has now won seven matches himself, was too much for Alcaraz, whose unbeaten run on the court dates back to the Queen’s-Wimbledon double he achieved last year. He triumphed 7-6(3), 6-3, in a match where the closeness in the first set came largely from tight games on Alcaraz’s serve, even more so than on Draper’s.

This was only Alcaraz’s third tour-level defeat on a grass court, having previously amassed a 17–2 record.

Next up at Queen’s for Draper is a quarter-final against American No. 5 seed Tommy Paul on Friday, while Alcaraz will regroup to defend his Wimbledon title from next Monday.

What does this mean for Jack Draper?

This could be a breakthrough moment for the 22-year-old Briton, who became national No. 1 this week.

Until last week, his career, largely on a trajectory of steady progress, had been missing three things: a title; a major upset; and a consistent sense that he is growing in his identity as a tennis player.

Suddenly he has all three, winning the Stuttgart Open on Sunday and beating the reigning Wimbledon and French Open champion Alcaraz four days later. For the home fans, this win will see British interest skyrocket ahead of Wimbledon, with Draper sitting at number 31 in his career and set to be placed at the championships, where no one wants to face him.

Draper’s game is now built around a vastly improved serve and a devilish mix of spin and power, as well as careful use of the angles available to him as a left-handed player. During this year’s clay court swing, his 193cm frame looked ponderous and uncertain, while Draper played passive tennis, blessed with the ability to be aggressive, but lacking confidence.

On grass, and having improved his serve, he looks all that height and presence. Against Alcaraz he only conceded one break point, which he saved with an outrageous half-volley pick-up and remained aggressive throughout, just as the Spaniard has faced so many players on tour since his breakthrough.

Having recently brought former Wimbledon quarter-finalist and Queen’s champion Wayne Ferreira into his coaching team, Draper looks set to impose himself on the best players in the world. Ferreira said on the Tennis Podcast this week that he is confident Draper is a future top-10 player, ready to fulfill the promise he showed when he reached the junior Wimbledon final six years ago.

What does this mean for Carlos Alcaraz?

How worrying this defeat is for Alcaraz remains to be seen. It was a disappointing loss, but the world number 2 has been playing a ton of tennis lately. He won the French Open and came to Queen’s after just a few days off. The concern is that Alcaraz still has matches like this every now and then where he struggles to fully adapt to opponents who find ways to impose themselves on his style.

Even when he won at Roland Garros, his strong second-round victory over Dutch qualifier Jesper de Jong was quite unconvincing. However, it is worth remembering that he only recently turned 21 and maintaining the intensity week in and week out that he had to show at Roland Garros is not easy.

(Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)