{"id":59396,"date":"2025-06-30T03:06:47","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T03:06:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=59396"},"modified":"2025-06-30T03:06:47","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T03:06:47","slug":"jack-draper-only-wanted-to-learn-from-rafael-nadal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=59396","title":{"rendered":"Jack Draper Only Wanted to Learn from Rafael Nadal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This time of year is reserved for strawberries and a lot of Wimbledon news. The tournament starts tomorrow and, of course, without Rafael Nadal it won\u2019t be the same. But our champ is still on the minds of many fans, despite his retirement. Players and coaches are also mentioning him.<\/p>\n<p>Current British No. 1,\u00a0<strong>Jack Draper<\/strong>, once questioned why his coach wasn\u2019t showing him footage of Rafa when he was still developing as a youngster. Here\u2019s what his former coach, Justin Sherring, had to say about it.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-89092\" src=\"https:\/\/rafaelnadalfans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Rafael-Nadal-right-speaks-to-Jack-Draper-following-his-victory-over-the-British-player-in-the-first-round-of-the-Australian-Open-1024x615.avif\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 723px) 100vw, 723px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rafaelnadalfans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Rafael-Nadal-right-speaks-to-Jack-Draper-following-his-victory-over-the-British-player-in-the-first-round-of-the-Australian-Open-1024x615.avif 1024w, https:\/\/rafaelnadalfans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Rafael-Nadal-right-speaks-to-Jack-Draper-following-his-victory-over-the-British-player-in-the-first-round-of-the-Australian-Open-300x180.avif 300w, https:\/\/rafaelnadalfans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Rafael-Nadal-right-speaks-to-Jack-Draper-following-his-victory-over-the-British-player-in-the-first-round-of-the-Australian-Open-150x90.avif 150w, https:\/\/rafaelnadalfans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Rafael-Nadal-right-speaks-to-Jack-Draper-following-his-victory-over-the-British-player-in-the-first-round-of-the-Australian-Open-768x461.avif 768w, https:\/\/rafaelnadalfans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Rafael-Nadal-right-speaks-to-Jack-Draper-following-his-victory-over-the-British-player-in-the-first-round-of-the-Australian-Open-1536x922.avif 1536w, https:\/\/rafaelnadalfans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Rafael-Nadal-right-speaks-to-Jack-Draper-following-his-victory-over-the-British-player-in-the-first-round-of-the-Australian-Open-2048x1230.avif 2048w, https:\/\/rafaelnadalfans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Rafael-Nadal-right-speaks-to-Jack-Draper-following-his-victory-over-the-British-player-in-the-first-round-of-the-Australian-Open.avif 1446w, https:\/\/rafaelnadalfans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Rafael-Nadal-right-speaks-to-Jack-Draper-following-his-victory-over-the-British-player-in-the-first-round-of-the-Australian-Open.avif 2169w\" alt=\"Rafael Nadal, right, speaks to Jack Draper following his victory over the British player in the first round of the Australian Open. Photograph: Lukas Coch\/EPA\" width=\"1024\" height=\"615\" data-attachment-id=\"89092\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/rafaelnadalfans.com\/2025\/06\/29\/jack-draper-only-wanted-to-learn-from-rafael-nadal\/rafael-nadal-right-speaks-to-jack-draper-following-his-victory-over-the-british-player-in-the-first-round-of-the-australian-open\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/rafaelnadalfans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Rafael-Nadal-right-speaks-to-Jack-Draper-following-his-victory-over-the-British-player-in-the-first-round-of-the-Australian-Open.avif\" data-orig-size=\"3800,2282\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Rafael Nadal, right, speaks to Jack Draper following his victory over the British player in the first round of the Australian Open\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;Rafael Nadal, right, speaks to Jack Draper following his victory over the British player in the first round of the Australian Open. Photograph: Lukas Coch\/EPA&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Rafael Nadal, right, speaks to Jack Draper following his victory over the British player in the first round of the Australian Open. Photograph: Lukas Coch\/EPA&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/rafaelnadalfans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Rafael-Nadal-right-speaks-to-Jack-Draper-following-his-victory-over-the-British-player-in-the-first-round-of-the-Australian-Open-300x180.avif\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/rafaelnadalfans.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Rafael-Nadal-right-speaks-to-Jack-Draper-following-his-victory-over-the-British-player-in-the-first-round-of-the-Australian-Open-1024x615.avif\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Rafael Nadal, right, speaks to Jack Draper following his victory over the British player in the first round of the Australian Open. Photograph: Lukas Coch\/EPA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Trying to inspire a young Draper, Sherring picked footage of Jurgen Melzer\u2014a lefty with a strong backhand\u2014to study:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cI chose a video of Jurgen Melzer, a top-10 player. Like Jack, he was a lefty and had a great backhand, exactly what we wanted to copy. I stick the video in front of Jack and I say, \u2018Look at the extension of the arms,\u2019 but Jack has got this look on his face.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>When Jack asked who he was watching, Sherring replied:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cIt\u2019s Jurgen Melzer, mate, top 10.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>But Jack wasn\u2019t buying it:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cWhy have you brought me Jurgen Melzer?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Even after Sherring explained the technical reasons, Jack delivered the line every Rafa fan would love:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cYeah, I get that. But why aren\u2019t you showing me Rafael Nadal?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Sherring\u2019s brilliant (and slightly defeated) comeback?<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cI\u2019m sorry to have offended you with a top-10 player. What was I thinking?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The story wrapped up with a classic Rafa-inspired ending:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cThe next day I bring him in a video of Nadal, the best lefty of all time, and Jack is just giggling at me and goes, \u2018That\u2019s more like it, Justin.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cThis kid, I love him. He\u2019s the nicest guy in the world and also a savage. He always knew what he wanted.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This time of year is reserved for strawberries and a lot of Wimbledon news. The tournament starts tomorrow and, of course, without Rafael Nadal it won\u2019t be&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tennis"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Jack Draper Only Wanted to Learn from Rafael Nadal - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=59396\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jack Draper Only Wanted to Learn from Rafael Nadal - 24\/7 News America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This time of year is reserved for strawberries and a lot of Wimbledon news. 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