British number one Jack Draper has confirmed he has parted ways with coach Wayne Pereira ahead of the US Open.
Draper to start US Open match against China’s Zhang Zhizhen on Tuesday – Live Stream Sky Sports Tennis.
He came into the tournament with promising results, including a quarterfinal appearance at the Cincinnati Open last week, but will be competing in New York after just four months without Pereira on the training staff.
The 22-year-old, who showed himself to be a threat on American hardcourts last year by reaching the fourth round, will now train exclusively with James Trautman.
Draper has parted ways with former player Pereira.
“It was definitely a good decision to bring Wayne on board given his value as a coach and his experience as a player, but I’ve always been a player who likes to keep things simple,” Draper said during a media conference at Flushing Meadows.
“I’d never experienced that team dynamic before, with two different voices and two different coaches, and I always wanted Trots to be the one leading what I was doing. I just felt like it wasn’t as simple as I wanted it to be, I wanted one voice on my team, and I think parting ways with Wayne and keeping what I wanted as a player was probably the right thing to do.
“That said, my time with Wayne was amazing, I learned a lot, and I got a lot of value from him. He’s an amazing guy and I think he’s someone I’ll always be friends with.”
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Looking back at Draper’s incredible victory story at the Stuttgart Open
Pereira’s results with Draper have been positive, with the young Briton upsetting Carlos Alcaraz at Queen’s to win the Stuttgart Open title and rising significantly up the rankings in the short time they’ve been working together.
“Some of it was the way Wayne saw my game, and a lot of it was the fact that I had come off a tough loss, down 7-6 in the third round and not having a win over an opponent,” Draper said.
“After the French Open, I had a huge mindset shift where I realized that I would never be the player I wanted to be unless I really tried to change myself. It’s good and good when someone tells you that you have to change. You have to change yourself.
“I think the timing was good with Wayne. I’m a different player and I’m constantly trying to be a different player to evolve and get better as a player.”
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