Izuchukwu Okosi
British number 1 men’s tennis star Jack Draper has been eliminated in the round of 16 stage of the French Open Monday night.
Draper, who is currently the world number 5 in the ATP men’s ranking, suffered the ignominy of heading home to the lower ranked opponent despite having the first real chance at 4-4.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelDraper did prove his mettle afterwards but Bublik showed immense staying power on Day 10 to become the first Kazakh man to reach the quarterfinals of a men’s Grand Slam tournament.
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After some nervous moments, Bublik produced some exhilarating tennis in his 26th Grand Slam main draw.
Acknowledging the raucous crowd, the victorious Kazakh stated: “Sometimes in life there is only one chance, and I had a feeling that was mine. I couldn’t let it slip. Standing here is the best moment of my life – period.
“Thank you guys, that was amazing. I’m standing here like I won the thing, but what can I say? I can’t cry here – come on, let me be in peace!
“I still have a match to go, I’m a professional tennis player and I’ve got to get ready.”
Assessing his performance, he said: “I left it all out there. I have a certain skill set to play tennis, and it worked marvellously today. It’s 100 per cent one of the best matches I have ever played in my life. That was as simple as that.”
On appearing nerveless on court, the new sebsatin6 HH: “Sometimes I feel like there are a certain amount of matches I have played in my life, for example, the Halle title that I won [2023], the Roland-Garros in doubles that I didn’t [2021 runner-up], and today’s match, sometimes I have a feeling like there is only one chance.
“I told myself, ‘You have this chance, you do your best. If it doesn’t work, I’m out.’ In certain moments I do believe there is only one chance. That’s why I played full and I played high risk, because that was the only chance.”
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
