Jacob Fearnley has defended Jack Draper over his outburst at Queen’s.

During his defeat against Jiri Lehecka on Saturday, Draper slammed his racket into the advertising hoardings in a fit of rage.

But British rival Fearnley has now said: “Obviously the players are under a lot of pressure and I’m sure Jack is feeling some pressure, but I think that more has something to do with the fact that he was so close to winning.

“He was 5-5 in the third, and he obviously really wants to do well in front of the British fans and he got broken in a pretty crucial moment and Jiri was serving really good, so he probably thought that it was over.

“I mean, you see players doing it all the time and then I think it was more just the situation he was in, in the match. Not necessarily to do with all the pressure of playing at home. I don’t think it was anything really to do with that. I hope the board’s all right.”