The change Jack Draper made during his Queen’s match vs Alexei Popyrin that he told his coach he’s now sticking with

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Jack Draper came from behind to defeat Alexei Popyrin at the Queen’s Club Championships.

The Australian has shown what a dangerous player he can be after winning the 2024 Canadian Open and defeating Novak Djokovic at the US Open last season.

He brought that level of play to the court to take on Draper, who is searching for his first grass court title.

The 23-year-old was put under huge pressure throughout the contest, but a subtle change helped Draper outlast Popyrin and keep his Queen’s title aspirations alive.

Jack Draper makes a change to his racket which helped him beat Alexei Popyrin at Queen’s

Jack Draper began Thursday’s match at Queen’s by losing the first set to Popyrin.

The World number six soon recovered and took set two, but he was soon embroiled in a tight final set which was decided by a tiebreak.

Draper produced a brilliant backhand winner and a scorching ace on the final two points to seal victory to the delight of his home British crowd.

Post-match, Draper explained how a change to his racket tension helped him complete a 3-6 6-2 7-6(5) comeback to reach the last eight at Queen’s.

“I had one racquet in my bag which was a bit of a higher tension than the others,” he said. “There had been quite a lot of points during the match where the ball just flew off my racquet a little bit.

“I thought, it’s 5-5 in the tie-break, give myself a chance on his serve, if I go up in the tension, let’s see what happens. I played two pretty good points. I said to my coach after the match, ‘let’s go with that tension from now on!”

Jack Draper provides a health update after reaching the Queen’s quarter-finals

Draper hit 14 thunderous aces on his way to reaching the Queen’s quarter-finals.

He rallied from 2-4 down in the tie-break to claim his second successive victory against Popyrin.

Draper battled injury before the tournament after taking a fall during practice, but recovered well enough to compete.

However, the reigning Indian Wells champion has revealed that he has been feeling unwell, which perhaps contributed to his slow start against Popyrin.

“I’ve not been feeling great actually, to be honest, the last day and a half,” Draper explained. “I was a bit flat out there. My body feels good but I was a bit under the weather.”