Jack Draper will launch his bid to win the Sunshine Double at the Miami Open on Saturday after declaring: “I feel like I can beat anyone”. The British No.1 claimed the biggest title of his career at the Indian Wells Masters last weekend after beating Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals. And the new world No.7 will now try to become the first man to win the titles in California and Florida since Roger Federer in 2017.
The Swiss superstar, Novak Djokovic and Andre Agassi are the only men to achieve the feat this century – and only seven have ever done the double in history. Draper, 23, will seek to extend his six-match winning streak against Czech world No.54 Jakub Mensik after getting a bye in the first round. And the No.6 seed told Sky Sports: “Last week gave me a lot of confidence. There are a lot of amazing players in this draw. I think by winning the 1000 last week and the players that I did, makes me believe that, I feel like I can beat anyone.
“At the same time, there are a lot of matches in front of me and I start with that first one against a really tough player. I believe in myself but there is a long way to go. I am taking it in my stride and I am moving on here and looking forward to starting again and starting strong here.”
Six-time Miami champion Novak Djokovic has revealed his name was not among the plaintiffs for the explosive lawsuit filed by the Professional Tennis Players’ Association (PTPA) “because I want other players to step up”.
The 24-time Grand Slam winner, who co-founded the PTPA, said in his pre-tournament press conference: “I really hope that all the governing bodies, including PTPA, will come together and solve these issues. This is a classic lawsuit, so lawyers to lawyers, type of situation.
“So to be quite frank with you, there are things that I agree with in the lawsuit, and then there are also things that I don’t agree with. And I found that maybe some wording was quite strong in there, but I guess the legal team knows what they are doing and what kind of terminology they’re supposed to use in order to get the right effect.”
Content Source: www.express.co.uk