After winning the Indian Wells title in March this year, Jack Draper said, “I want to be a great player, and I want to achieve amazing things in this sport.” He expressed his intentions to keep improving by saying, “I’m very ambitious. I don’t want to just stop here.” Although after the Indian Wells, Draper didn’t have a great outing in Miami or Monte Carlo, he came back strongly at the Madrid Open. Draper felt agonizingly short of the title triumph at the Spanish capital on Sunday. Norwegian star Casper Ruud defeated him by 7-5,3-6,6-4 in the final. With this defeat, Draper has now been denied of clinching his second Masters 1000 title in just two months. Not only that, but it also ended his dream of clinching his first ATP title on clay. There are two talking points from this match: one will be Draper’s incredible resilience against the two-time French Open finalist, and the second will be his angry outburst at his team during the match. Fans aren’t too pleased with the latter!
Frustrations got the better of Jack Draper during his hard-fought battle against Casper Ruud in the final of the Madrid Open. The Brit started the contest on the front foot and secured an early break to lead against the Norwegian star by 2-1 in the first set. But later on, he failed to hold on to his lead and gave away the first set to Ruud by 7-5. Then, after losing the first set, Draper was spotted speaking angrily to his coaching staff. Moreover, he was also spotted making some hand gestures while walking towards his chair, along with his angry rant.
Not only that, he also flung away his racket and cap, before yelling, “I’m dead! I’m out” while picking up the towel. During this match, there were moments when even Casper Ruud was visibly upset with his performance. Later on, while speaking to Sky Sports, Ruud explained how Draper frustrated him at several junctures in this epic battle.
Typical entitled behaviour, cursing and swearing at his box after his own mistakes, tennis needs to ban these nepo babies. pic.twitter.com/l3EFBUjBpt
— Casper Ruud Fan (@ItzzZain10) May 4, 2025
“I was getting a bit frustrated in the second and beginning of the third set as I felt I had the momentum of the first set, and then I was thinking time to dominate him even more, and I wasn’t able to in the second. He came back and played phenomenally. I kind of told my team or my box over there, he is responding so well to my heavy forehands and making it really tough for me,” said Ruud.
Despite all these, “The Iceman“, Ruud kept his calm and sealed the victory. But it was Jack Draper’s reaction during the match that later became the talk of the town in tennis. What are the fans saying on this, though?
Tennis fans are taking a brutal jibe at Jack Draper for his angry outburst during the Madrid Open final
Despite this loss to Casper Ruud, Jack Draper said that he’s happy with his performance on clay. He also mentioned, “This sport is brutal but I will keep trying, I think this loss will make me better. I thought there was a lot of good stuff but in a couple of key moments, I felt like his level maintained and mine maybe just dipped off a little bit. Not quite getting over the line helps fuel my fire a bit more that I need to keep on pushing, I need to keep on improving.” But despite his heroic fight, one small moment during the made has now made him an unpopular figure among the masses.
Highlighting his angry outburst during the final match, a fan tweeted, “I first liked this guy when he was Doha finalist and then won Indian Wells. But since then he got hyped up with social media stuff, brand promotions. He let all of this get into his head, acting entitled and showing his true color. I’m like, Nope.“
Jack Draper has always been known for his calm and composed nature. For example, after seeing his incredible run at last year’s US Open, Tim Henman hailed “his controlled aggression” and his incredible “maturity“. Even the former British number one Annabel Croft said, “What was so impressive was how calm and how composed he was. He never ranted at the box. He didn’t need to and he just looked ready for this stage of a Grand Slam.” But after seeing his bizarre reaction towards his box in Madrid, a fan wrote, “I knew you wouldn’t miss the spoiled brat acting out.”
Despite being known for his composed nature, Draper has at times found himself in troubled waters for his reactions. For instance, during the 2025 AO, he was spotted smashing his racket in rage during the third set of his third-round match against Aleksander Vukic. Even that time, his angry outburst forced a lot of negative comments towards him. Seeing this reaction in Madrid, another fan took a brutal dig at Draper by tweeting, “F-ck Jack Draper.“
Even during the 2025 Monte Carlo Masters, he lost his cool in the match against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and was heard yelling at himself, saying, “Wake up“. But this time it was addressed towards his bench. “That’s so weird to me. he’s on the court, not his team. why do these people have to put up with such abuse?” a fan asked.
Talking about controversial moments at the Madrid Open, even the world number one, Aryna Sabalenka, landed herself in the ‘bad books’ of the fans when she forced a pause in her SF match against Marta Kostyuk. Other than that, she is often seen showing a similar angry outburst during her matches. Highlighting Aryna Sabalenka‘s controversial on-court actions, another fan drew a similarity with Draper. The fan wrote, “Jack Draper is the Ayna Sabalenka of the ATP TOUR. Actually, Jack may be more THEATRICAL than Aryna. It is very damn close“
Interestingly, left-handed Draper’s stylish game often draws comparison with the ‘King of Clay’ Rafael Nadal. With his incredible performances, Draper has now risen to the fifth spot in the ATP Rankings, and he is now also the highest ranked amongst the left-handers since Nadal in the 21st century. Previously, while talking about being hailed as the next Rafa, Draper said, “I mean I haven’t won 14 Roland-Garros [titles] just yet! Rafa is obviously someone, being a lefty, that I looked up to when I was younger. I don’t sort of compare myself to him, but I’d like to think that I want to have qualities like Rafa. Whether that’s attitude or his forehand with the shape. There’s certain things I can take from him for sure, but not quite his level yet on the clay.“
But seeing his reactions in the Madrid final, a fan highlighted the stark contrast in their personality by saying, “Things you would never have seen Nadal do in his whole active playing career.”
Jack Draper has scored more clay-court wins in 2025 than in any previous season. Two big tournaments (the Italian Open and the French Open) are knocking at the door. Do you think Draper can make a similar long run over there as well?
The post ‘Jack Draper Is the Aryna Sabalenka of….’- British ATP Pro Under Fire From Fans Following Absurd Behavior at the Madrid Open appeared first on EssentiallySports.