J. DRAPER/G. Simon
7-5, 6-1
THE MODERATOR: It's your first Masters 1000 win against a veteran on the tour. How does it feel?
JACK DRAPER: Yeah, really good. I played an okay match today. It was tough conditions. It wasn't the easiest, especially after what happened last year. It was in the back of my mind a little bit.
I'm glad to come through the match. I think it shows the work I've put in the last six months, so I'm happy with the performance today.
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Do you feel you're that much stronger? Is that part of the reason you were so in control today?
JACK DRAPER: Yeah, I think it's definitely physical development. I've had to work really hard on it. I think mentally I'm in a much better place than I was.
I think also just it's always going to be a little bit difficult because I haven't played a lot of outdoor tennis, especially in these type of conditions.
I think the more I start to play these sort of events in these conditions, it's only going to help me and make me feel more comfortable.
Q. How do you feel playing in Miami with the weather, humidity?
JACK DRAPER: I mean, it's definitely tough conditions. I've spoken to quite a few of the players. Even guys who play Australian Open and in other places on the tour, they say this is one of the places where it is really tough because of the humidity and the heat. You lose a lot of water when you're on court, so it does make you feel in a bit of shock when you're on court.
Yeah, you got to get past that and play.
Q. It must be nice not to be just a Forli specialist, looks like a bit you've become that this year. What has it been like playing tournaments in the same place? I presume that's been quite a valuable part of the learning curve.
JACK DRAPER: Yes, it's funny. Forli, the place I've won the three challengers, it's in the middle of nowhere. There's not a lot to do there apart from play, try to improve, play lots of matches. I'm glad I was able to get a lot of matches there this year.
It's not like being here. There's a lot more things going on and stuff, whereas at the challenger level it's mainly just the tournament and the hotel.
Yeah, it's a good steppingstone to get to this point, the challengers. I'm not at this level of my own merit yet, so I have to keep working.
Q. How do you feel about playing Cam next up? You train quite a bit with him. He's a relentless player on the court.
JACK DRAPER: Yeah, for sure. I've played a lot with Cam in the UK. He's one of the guys who has been great with me as a young Brit. I think he's always supporting, always sending me messages.
Nice I get to share the court with him on Friday. When I played him at Queen's last year, I'm a lot better player than that I think. Hopefully I can give him a run for his money on Friday I think I'm playing.
Q. Does it help that you've hit and played with him?
JACK DRAPER: Yeah, I think so. I think he's a very unorthodox character. He uses his game extremely well to find the other player's weaknesses. I guess it could work both ways: he could know what I play like.
He's definitely someone who is very, very tough to beat. I'm going to have to play very well to beat him, so...
Q. You made reference to the six months of hard work paying off. What kind of things have you been doing? Who have you been working with?
JACK DRAPER: Yeah, I think after Wimbledon last year, I sort of was at a stage where I felt like I could really push on. Then I had a bit of an unfortunate fall with my ankle. I was out for another six weeks with a ruptured ligament there. It took me till the end of the year to actually recover from that, be in a place where I could try to push myself physically.
I had a bit of a change in setup with my team last year. I split with my old coach Ryan Jones, who was a great mentor, incredible figure in my tennis. I started working with James Trotman. My physical training stayed the same. I was with Ian Prangley and Charlie Faulkner.
I think just the environment I'm in now is a lot better and I'm able to have a clearer objective of where I'm going with my tennis.
Yes, seems to be paying off so I'm going to keep at it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports