THE MODERATOR: First of all, welcome back, Jack. How does feel to come back to Tennis Paradise to defend your title?
JACK DRAPER: Yeah, it feels amazing. Year has gone very quickly. Slow at the same time, as well. One of my favorite tournaments for sure, especially after the memories of last year.
Yeah, I'm just very grateful to be back on the tour and doing what I love.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.
Q. I saw recently that you have put out sort of a documentary series with your clothing brand about your time away and recovery and things like that. A lot of players now are putting out sort of vlogs and documentary series. Why did you want to do something like this, and are you going to keep it up past the three episodes that are going to drop?
JACK DRAPER: Yeah, I mean, personally I don't love kind of letting people in to my life sort of outside of tournaments and outside of the sort of public place, but I think it's actually something that I will carry on, because I think it's good to share your journey, good to share and hopefully inspire kids and younger generations and to show that it's not all the highlights and the glitz and glamour.
There is more to the sport and the lifestyle than that. There is a lot of ups and downs, and I think as well as the moments you see on social media or the highlight reel, it's important to show a bit more of a raw side to it as well.
I think I'll carry on doing it, and hopefully, you know, give people some good insights.
Q. How much do the events in the Middle East and how they may affect the draw in this tournament, how much does that affect your preparations for the next two weeks?
JACK DRAPER: I mean, I think it's obviously very concerning. I was in Dubai last week. I managed to get away almost probably one of the last flights out.
I just hope the players and all the staff, you know, within the ATP are able to make it here, or the main thing is that they're safe. It's obviously a very concerning situation for all involved, and I hope they can make it here.
So, yeah, I'm not sure where they're at with it. Yeah, I'm not sure, to be honest. That's all I can say.
Q. You come here as defending champion. It was a great year last year. A lot has happened to you since you won here. Physically, how do you feel in terms of if you were to defend your title, are you physically ready at this stage of your comeback to play back to back to back to back, do you think?
JACK DRAPER: Yeah, I feel like I wouldn't be here, wouldn't be in the tournament if I didn't feel like I could go all the way again. That was probably the primary reason I didn't go out to Australia, just purely because if I'm going to enter a tournament, I'm going to be in the event, I want to feel like I can be physically ready to not just take part but to go all the way, because I believe in my tennis so much that when I get out there, I know that I can play some great stuff.
At this point, truthfully, I'm just very grateful to be back on the court, to be back on the tour. I'm feeling like I have improved a lot as a player over the last eight months, but I do recognize that I have been away from the game, and it is a bit of a step up in level to just come straight back to it after that amount of time out of the game. So let's see what happens. I'm sort of not overthinking things too much.
My main priority is looking after my body, making sure that when I'm able to hit the match court that I'm fully prepared for what's to come, and I always believe in my tennis, so let's see how far I can go.
Q. You have dealt with chronic injury for a while now, and a lot of other players who go through the same thing describe having sort of this heightened level of fear when they return to play, which can impact their game. Is that something that's come up for you, and how do you deal with that?
JACK DRAPER: I mean, I think maybe that's a bit more so if they come back a bit too early potentially. I know from some of the injuries I have had in the past I have made mistakes coming back too early, and I think when you do come back too early, you can lose a lot of trust in your body.
I haven't had the sort of injury where I have not been able to be on court at all. I have been able to practice, been able to still get the reps in over a long period of time. I just haven't been able to get to the point where I'm able to play at the highest intensity I want and go back-to-back as I've wanted and as I want to do on the tour to make it again to be a top player.
I don't have any fear around my arm. I know that I've got great people around me. I've got good experience of it now, and so I just want to make sure that I'm doing all the right things to be able to just go week after week and stay on the tour.
Q. What inspired the haircut? Is it a sign you may return to it again in the future?
JACK DRAPER: Yeah, there is nothing like a buzz cut. Honestly, you don't have to do anything.
What inspired the haircut? I think, I don't know, I have just been out for a long period of time. Eight months is difficult. Especially in an individual sport, you become quite isolated. There is a lot of difficult moments, and when you come out of that and you start to feel better within yourself, yeah, just fancied a fresh start.
Not sure if it's my best haircut or my best fashion choice, but something different I think is always good. I think I'll return to it again, but maybe I'll let it grow for now.
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