Jack Draper backtracks on calling US Open mixed doubles event an ‘exhibition’

This time, it felt like a little bit more than “a bit of an exhibition” for Jack Draper. 

Draper described the first two rounds of the revamped mixed doubles tournament at the U.S. Open in that manner — earning a playful ribbing from partner Jessica Pegula — On Tuesday night, but felt there was a different feel the second night after getting knocked out in the semifinals. 

Pegula and Draper fell to Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud at Arthur Ashe Stadium after letting an 8-4 lead in the 10-point, third-set tiebreak slip away. 

Swiatek and Ruud fell to Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori in the final.

As for Draper, he came away with a bit of a different feeling after the match. 

“I think yesterday there were times where it felt a little bit more that way [like an exhibition] from our opponents, like a little bit more,” Draper said. “Whereas tonight we were in the changing rooms, you’re seeing Iga and Casper and they’re like fully dialed in. They’re fully dialed in.”

He later added: “The people who come to watch the mixed event and fill up the crowd, they want to see really good tennis. Yeah, it ain’t an exhibition”

Draper and Pegula shared a hilarious exchange on Tuesday night after they swept through the first round and the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles tournament, after he called it an “exhibition.” 

She playfully apologized while the pair were on the podium for their post-match news conference on Wednesday, saying, “ I felt like I kind of scolded him yesterday in press, so… I’m not going to say anything.”

Pegula and Draper had been a dynamic duo on and off the court during the mixed doubles tournament, creating some fun moments between the two, even after they lost in the semifinals. 

The two had joked earlier in the tournament that they had spoken about four words to each other before partnering up and after the loss, the two were still making jokes about that. 

“At one point he said, Oh, Buffalo, New York. So that is a start,” Pegula said about Draper learning more about her. “He pulled that one out. Then saying, Iris, Goo Goo Dolls. I was like, Oh, a Goo Goo Dolls fan? He actually sang that at one point on the changeover, which was pretty funny.

“He knows where I’m from and he does like the Goo Goo.” 

But Draper quickly admitted how he knew she hailed from Western New York. 

“They did say ‘Jessica Pegula from Buffalo, New York’. I knew it from that,” he said with a smile.