Jack Draper outplayed by inspired Marin Cilic in Wimbledon second round

Times

a day ago

The Jack Draper bandwagon suffered a serious blowout as youth bowed to experience in the duel of the big-hitters on No1 Court. Marin Cilic, a finalist eight years ago, belied his age, knee operations and lowly ranking of No83, to inflict a chastening 6-4, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 second-round defeat on Britain's leading man.
The 36-year-old Croat, 13 years older than the fourth seed, started in belligerent fashion with flat, hard and wounding ground strokes, racing into a two-set lead. Draper did find something in the third to still the momentum, but back came Cilic. Last year he became the lowest-ranked player to win an ATP Tour event at No777, and last month's follow-up on the grass of the Nottingham Open served another warning. He may not have beaten a top-five player at Wimbledon before, but he had made the final in 2017 and was here as the most dangerous of loose cannons.
Draper did mount a comeback but Cilic steadied himself and his forehand paved the way. He struck 27 winners off that wing compared with Draper's seven. He played a brave, risky game with little margin for error — but how it paid off.
He then thanked his watching children. 'They are one of the reasons I kept such a great passion,' he said. 'Running after them keeps me in great shape.'
Trailing 2-1 in sets, Draper took issue with a call in the fifth game of the next. Of course, the absence of line judges meant he was bemoaning AI. It showed the tension and exasperation, and if anything, endeared him to a crowd yearning for the sort of old-fashioned comeback that Andy Murray used to serve up to make a mockery of dinner reservations.
Not this year, though. He did not do too much wrong but credit to his opponent. Cilic is dangerously erratic. You wouldn't always bet your bus fare on him, let alone the mortgage, but he is bereft of expectations and can be brilliant. Even in his pomp he betrayed traces of sometime coach and fellow Croat, Goran Ivanisevic, who would talk of 'Good Goran' and 'Bad Goran' and mix the sublime and ridiculous. Some Wimbledon finals are one-sided, but Ivanisevic's winning turn had at least three.
So, too, Cilic can ebb and flow. Draper said all the right things in the preamble. Cilic was an 'amazing player' who has had an 'unbelievable career'. He hoped to get 'bad Marin', the old one with the knackered knee, but got the much improved one rolling back the years. Cilic was inspired. Draper raised his level and fought tooth and nail, but it was not enough. He saved two break points at 4-3 down in the fourth but was broken in the last game. It was edgy and enduringly entertaining. He made a sharp, and surprisingly premature, exit.