Exclusive: Patrick Mouratoglou discusses UTS<\/h3>\n

Jack Draper revealed that he was told he could do anything he wanted at this week\u2019s unique Ultimate Tennis Showdown, except \u201cphysically abuse someone in the crowd.\u201d The 21-year-old is making his debut at the feisty tennis event, where players have been encouraged to get riled up and smash their rackets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Draper will be back playing in front of a home crowd in London for the UTS Grand Final, a tennis league that sees players score as many points as possible across four eight-minute-long quarters. As well as the format, the British No 4 is getting used to the loose restrictions where there is just one rule – no physical abuse.<\/p>\n

On the regular tennis tour, players are penalised for verbal obscenities and smashing rackets but it\u2019s a different story at the fiery tournament founded by Patrick Mouratoglou. \u201cYeah I mean I knew nothing about the rules until the briefing we had a bit earlier and they were saying smash as many rackets as you want, do whatever,\u201d 21-year-old Draper said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only thing that you can\u2019t do is physically abuse someone in the crowd.\u201d While Draper wasn\u2019t going to be taking the chance to ruin his rackets, the world No 61 joked that he would have used the opportunity to recreate Eric Cantona\u2019s infamous kung-fu kick.<\/p>\n

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He added: \u201cI was going to do an Eric Cantona on you guys! It seems like an amazing concept. I don\u2019t think personally I will be smashing any rackets because I don\u2019t have many but I think it is a great concept to be able to show your emotions and play freely. That\u2019s, for me, what tennis should be about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Draper, who has been nicknamed \u2018The Power\u2019 for the UTS tournament, will face Holger \u2018The Viking\u2019 Rune in his first match on Friday. The world No 8 seems to be the perfect fit for the event given his feisty on-court personality, and it\u2019s something that the Brit likes watching.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see people, especially on Twitter or whatever, going and getting annoyed at players for showing their emotions,\u201d the 21-year-old explained. \u201cAnd one thing I will say is that tennis is an incredibly difficult sport emotionally to try and understand.<\/p>\n

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  \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people watching, there\u2019s a lot of money at stake, there\u2019s TVs, there\u2019s everything going on so people cope with that pressure in different ways. I feel like he\u2019s always someone who has worn his heart on his shoulder and me personally I\u2019d much rather see that than someone who sort of doesn\u2019t give anything away and who is quite boring to watch so I think he\u2019s great for the sport and I hope he\u2019s around for years.\u201d<\/p>\n

  Draper is now hoping that some of the innovations and relaxed rules could make their way onto the regular tennis circuit and find a place alongside the traditions seen at Wimbledon. The recent Sofia finalist continued: \u201cI think tennis needs a mix between keeping the traditions of the sport like keeping the Wimbledon and the five sets and all that has a huge place within tennis.<\/p>\n

  \u201cBut I do think it needs to open itself up for instance in terms of the crowd should be able to move around and talk. They have that at the US Open really you wouldn\u2019t know what\u2019s going on. They\u2019ve obviously tried to do different ideas in the Next Gen Finals and I think there is a few rules which tennis could include which would help the spectators of the game. Obviously it\u2019s a bit difficult for the players like going out, no warm-up and first serve. But I think this concept is exciting and I don\u2019t know what it\u2019s going to be like, we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n

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