Jack Draper addressed the recent emotional outburst he had in front of his home crowd during the 2025 Queen’s Club Championships. The incident occurred during the Brit’s semifinal match against Jiří Lehečka at the grass-court tournament in London.
Seeded second in the ATP 500 event, Draper defeated the likes of Jenson Brooksby, Alexei Popyrin, and Brandon Nakashima to reach the semifinals. There, his run came to an end against Lehečka, losing 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 in a match that lasted just over two hours.
Jack Draper Reflects on His Angry Outburst at Queen’s Club Championships 2025 SF
During the third set of Draper’s match against Lehečka, with the score tied at 5-5, the Czech broke the 23-year-old’s serve.
This triggered an angry reaction from Draper, who smashed his racket against the electronic advertising hoarding surrounding the court at the Andy Murray Arena.
Draper smashed his racquet and broke a sponsorship board pic.twitter.com/QqcAblGY1M
— Dan Gernez (@GernezDan) June 21, 2025
In the post-match press conference, Draper reflected on his outburst, explaining that his frustration stemmed from his performance in the match.
He expressed disappointment in himself for allowing himself to play the way he did, which in turn cost him the match, leading to his emotional reaction.
“A bit of everything, really. The way I sort of playing at times. Obviously the fact that you know, I have worked so hard to get myself in that position. I really tried to get myself up, get the energy going. You know, when you see that ball go past you on that point, you know, it’s very tough to see yourself breaking the next game, although I tried my best on that,” Draper said.
Draper clarified that he does not “condone” such behavior and acknowledged that his anger was a reaction to his disappointment in his performance.
“I don’t condone obviously that behavior, but at the same time, that’s kind of where I was at today. I was trying to use everything I could. I tried to compete every ball. But in the end, anger just spilled over a little bit too much,” he added.
Meanwhile, with his victory over Draper, the Czech advanced to the final, where he will take on top seed Carlos Alcaraz.
“I Don’t Want To Be Behaving Like That” – Draper Discusses His On-Court Conduct During the Queen’s Club Championships
In the aforementioned press conference, Draper revealed that while he initially channeled his anger to motivate and “fire” himself during the match.
“When you’re not feeling great, when your energy is really low, you use everything you can to get yourself up. I’m almost getting angry to get fired up. When you do that, when you give everything you have, not just in tennis, like in anything, you’re obviously a bit less mellow and playing a bit more on a tightrope,” Draper said.
The Brit admitted that hyping himself up with anger ultimately became counterproductive.
“So when you try your best and things don’t go your way, it’s easy to spill over. That’s what happened out there. Like I said, I don’t want to behave like that, in all honesty, but that’s just the way I sort of am as a competitor. Sometimes I just play on a bit of a tightrope. I don’t want to be behaving like that, yeah,” he added.
Looking ahead, Draper will next compete at the 2025 Wimbledon Championships, scheduled for June 30 to July 13, 2025, at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London.
