Carlos Alcaraz dropped out of the Royal Tournament

Alcaraz was defeated again almost two years later. Many months have passed since the Murcian lost in the 1/8 finals of Wimbledon in 2022 against Jannik Sinner. Along the way, two titles – in Queens and Wimbledon, as well as thirteen wins in a row What They came to an end this Thursdaywhen Draper played one of the best games of his career.

Recent Stuttgart champion and considered the best British tennis player at the moment, Draper played a stellar gameespecially with a serve with which he lost only fourteen points, destabilizing the champion.

In a tight first set, when both players were very confident in serving, Alcaraz, instead of becoming great under pressure, destroyed himself in the tiebreaker on the basis of errors, and when he wanted to correct them, the score was 6-1, which he had . The British were invincible.

Moreover, he always pulled out an impressive serve whenever he was in trouble, the best solution on his favorite surface and against Alcaraz, who had the disadvantage of never playing on grass against a left-hander. He trained with Cameron Norrie and tournament sparring partner to acclimate to the conditions, but Draper was clearly at a much more advanced level.

With the first set in his pocket and a large crowd who wanted the match to end quickly so they could go watch the Denmark-England match, Draper not only did not lower his level, but only raised it in the second set to break Alcaraz at the first opportunity . he did, parrying a break ball along the way and ending the game in just hour and 39 minutes after four wasted match points.

Alcaraz’s first major challenge on grass ended in defeatwhich is not surprising for a contender, but will likely force him to change his plans these days, since unless he signs up for next week’s exhibition match – Hurlingham played in 2022 and 2023 – He will arrive at Wimbledon with just two matches under his belt..

DefeatIn addition, because of this, he loses some of last year’s 500 points and fall from second position in the rankingwhich shouldn’t worry Wimbledon since, given Novak Djokovic’s defeat, he will continue to sit in second place and avoid Sinner until the final.

In the Queen’s quarterfinals, Draper will face Tommy Paul, who defeated Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo in straight sets.