Draper vs Khachanov: Vienna Recap

rare grips — technical changes — line balls

Jack Draper defeated Karen Khachanov 6/4 7/5 in the final of the ATP Vienna 500 on Sunday to clinch his maiden 500 title and second title overall (Stuttgart 2024). The win pulls Draper level at 2-2 with Khachanov in their H2H as the Brit rises to #15 in the live ATP rankings.

Khachanov came into the final on an eight match win streak — including a title last week in Almaty — that had the Russian looking confident early on. His backhand down-the-line, surely the standout feature of his game, had been on song in the previous rounds, and it was firing early here:

“It’s going to be a really interesting tactic for me, with Draper’s forehand cross, it’s a shot that he normally can cause so much damage on and drag the player out, but Khachanov’s not going to mind is he? Because it gives him the space to play down the line if Draper is out there in the forehand corner. It’s a shot he is confident stepping in on the front foot on.”

— TennisTV

Draper had other plans, however, and did an excellent job playing aggressive tennis into the Khachanov forehand, using his flat, punchy crosscourt backhand, as well as his inside-out and down-the-line forehand to pin the Russian on his weaker wing.

Draper’s stats are left, Khachanov right. Khachanov only hit 70 backhands in this whole encounter, compared with 122 forehands. I would wager the vast majority of those forehands were from his own forehand corner (i.e., not inside-out forehands where he was able to dictate). source

Khachanov possesses a unique pair of baseline grips that make him susceptible to various shots and game styles. The Western forehand, held with a degree of wrist flexion reserved for a bicep-posing bodybuilder, isn’t well-suited to handling lower balls, and on the run he lacks the ability to defend well from that wing. He also struggles to generate pace with the forehand despite being a large Russian dude.

The backhand is also unique in how far up the grip the Russian places his hands. This provides him with a wonderful degree of control, but it is not ideal for generating pace.

Such a compact swing paired with a choked up grip means there isn’t much racquet head speed in Khachanov’s backhand. It’s great for redirecting pace, but struggles to generate his own. High slower balls (kick serves, heavier and higher groundstrokes) make it hard for the Russian to attack effectively.

“I gotta say sitting court side so close to the action, I’m a bit surprised about how he [Khachanov] just doesn’t generate pace as well as I had expected, from either wing really.”

— Wally Masur during the 2022 Australian Open semifinals against Tsitsipas

Khachanov exploded onto everyone’s radar in 2018, defeating Djokovic in the Paris Masters final (as well as four other top-10 players on the way). But since that landmark week his career has been a steady burn. He’s only managed seven top-10 wins since 2019, with an overall record of 14-52 (which includes a 23-match losing streak). If that doesn’t scream “technical ceiling effects”, nothing will. Still, he’s been an incredibly consistent player in slams, often making the second week when presented with a favourable draw.

Khachanov holds his forehand grip very loosely when waiting at the baseline, before “flipping” the racquet onto his backhand side and choking up the grip. Weirdly, the Russian does not flip the racquet for the return of serve.

And while we talk technique, Draper has also made changes to his own forehand since first coming on tour as a teenager, moving away from the high-elbow/flexed-wrist setup (here) to one more Sinner-esque, extending the wrist, lowering the elbow, and keeping the racquet more on the hitting side (here).

While by no means a heavyweight shot on tour today (yet; it has it’s moments on the run), I’m bullish on Draper because in making that change we know that the Brit is adaptable. We know he is willing to make changes.

I’m also bullish because there’s just a lot of things Draper does well. Movement? Great. Serve? Lefty and nasty. Backhand? It’s flat and punchy and well-suited to today’s fast-paced game. The forecourt game is solid, but more importantly, I love how willing he is to move forward and finish at the net. The forehand is consistent without doing an elite amount of damage, but there are signs that the pace is there when he is willing to be more aggressive. He also used the drop shot off his inside-out forehand to good effect today. Fitness has been the main issue so far, but at just 22-years-old that is an area that he will most likely improve.

Today the forehand was excellent, changing direction, injecting pace, and mixing in the drop shot. The top-10 beckons with tennis like this.

I counted 5 forehand down the line winners for Draper today (plus a handful of line backhands, too).

“Do you think that has surprised Khachanov? He likes to camp in that backhand corner and hit inside-out forehands and hit backhands down the line. He just hasn’t been allowed that.”

— TennisTV

Khachanov got caught early on expecting more backhands. He chips this first forehand as he probably guessed the backhand grip initially. Good use of the front foot from Draper on the last line forehand.

This first-set was basically an advertisement of why you should be bullish on Draper. The serve was accurate, fast, and had great movement through the air.

The aggression and change of direction was elite off both wings. The end-range danger on the forehand — a sore point of so many prospects — is actually pretty good with Draper:

I also just like how he competes. He hustles on defense, his body language between points is professional. He does these little one-percenters.

There were some finish-line yips after blowing a 4-0 lead in the second set, but the Brit regathered to break Khachanov at 5-6 and bag the biggest title of his career.

A look at the rap sheet had Draper with twice as many winners for a comparable number of unforced errors.

Draper won 80% of his first-serve points today, which is a little better than average for him at the moment. A look at the 52-week first-serve points won % leaders:

He’s treading elite company behind the first ball. He drops to 50.7% on second serves (for a comparison, Alcaraz and Sinner lead with 57.4% and 57.1% respectively). On return the Brit is placed 11th in return-games won (25.8%). De Minaur (32.1%) and Alcaraz (30.4%) lead that category.

This was by far the best I have seen Draper play. Maybe Khachanov - who didn’t play aggressively enough until late in the second — allowed Draper to play with such freedom early on, but there is a quality to his game that passes the eye test. Can he challenge the Alcaraz and Sinner duo in the coming years? I’m not sure of that just yet, but the direction and speed of his progress is promising.

I’ll be back for a Paris Masters recap next week.

Until then, I’ll see you in the comments. HC.