Jack Draper ‘ready to be fully dangerous’ at Wimbledon after Eastbourne run

Jack Draper warned he is a “completely different player” to the one who briefly stunned Novak Djokovic as he prepares to make a greater impact on his Wimbledon return.

British number four Draper heads to the All England Club buoyed by a fine run at Eastbourne, which was halted at the semi-final stage on Friday by an agonising loss to Maxime Cressy.

The 20-year-old took the opening set against eventual champion Djokovic on his SW19 debut last year before eventually succumbing to defeat.

He believes he is in far better shape to progress deep into the championships on this occasion, partly due to lessons learned from his memorable Centre Court clash with the formidable Serbian.

“My lead-up to playing Novak last year was very different to this year,” said Draper, who will face Belgian wildcard Zizou Bergs in round one of the grand slam next week .

“This year I’ve been able to stay in form, my practice has been more consistent and I’ve been able to get a lot of matches in, whereas last year I was injured pretty much all the way up until Queen’s.

“And then, even when I was playing Djokovic, something was hurting in my body, so I’m a completely different player this year.

“I think he showed me how many weaknesses I still had in my game.

“Obviously I’ve tried to improve that the best I can and I think every year I’m going to be a better player, but definitely this year I’ve improved a lot and I think I’m ready to be fully dangerous.”

Draper’s impressive progress at the Rothesay International brought a maiden ATP Tour semi-final.

He was prevented from becoming the first British male to reach the singles final of the Devonshire Park tournament after Cressy added to a list of British scalps already containing Dan Evans and Cameron