Jack Draper and Arthur Fils have both had a similar journey coming back from injury.
Draper suffered bone bruising in his left arm last year, which prevented him from playing more than one singles match after Wimbledon until he returned to competition for Great Britain’s Davis Cup tie against Norway last month.
This is a similar situation to Fils, who suffered with a stress fracture in his back and was only able to play two matches in nine months before returning at the ATP tournament in Montpellier last month.
Both players are now into the last-16 in Indian Wells, and Draper has now revealed that he was joking with Fils about their injuries in the locker room.
Jack Draper details conversation he had with Arthur Fils in the locker room
Draper continued his Indian Wells title defence after beating Francisco Cerundolo 6-1, 7-5, to reach the fourth round.
In his post-match press conference, Draper was asked about the similar recent injury journey he has had to Fils, and if he had spoken to the Frenchman about it.
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Draper revealed that he had actually been laughing about how much tennis they had both missed, before praising Fils, who reached the final at the Qatar Open in just his third tournament back.
“Yeah, I spoke to him in the changing room,” said Draper. “He asked how I was. I said I’m good, and we were laughing about how much sort of time we’d missed almost, I think he probably longer than me, actually.
“But both of our injuries, obviously very similar, bone injuries. Yeah, we were just laughing because they’re nasty. They’re nasty injuries. They’re not easy. It’s not like a pulled muscle where you know when you’re going to be back.
“It’s a long, long process. I didn’t go into the details with him, but I can imagine he was on the same kind of trajectory of difficult times as I was, because I know the process with the bone injuries, and they’re long and hard.
“So I have a lot of respect for Arthur. I think he’s an amazing player. Pretty impressive the way he’s sort of come back, as well. He’s winning lots of matches, final at Doha, and doing well here. So I wish him all the best, and he’s a good lad, yeah.”
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Although they have had similar recovery journeys, Draper and Fils have never actually played each other before.
However, Draper did reveal that he enjoys watching Fils play, particularly highlighting his attitude on court.
“Yeah, I do like to watch him,” added Draper. “I think he’s got a lot of flair about him. I think he’s got a really good attitude. He shows a lot of energy, he’s like gritty obviously, like he competes hard.
“And, yeah, I think it’s good, you know, for French tennis that they’ve got a player like him, for sure.”
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Draper will now have a day off before his fourth round match against Novak Djokovic, when Fils’ fate will already be sealed.
Fils plays his fourth round match on Tuesday, March 10, against ninth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime.
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