British No 1 Jack Draper pulled aside by Wimbledon officials after locker room gaffe
Jack Draper went into the wrong locker room at Wimbledon
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British No 1 Jack Draper has revealed he went to the wrong locker room when arriving at Wimbledon with seeded players given an exclusive space.
The 22-year-old replaced Cam Norrie as the top British seed following his maiden ATP title win at the Stuttgart Open.
That victory also propelled Draper into the seeded spots for Wimbledon for the first time in his career.
As a seeded player, Draper is given special privileges with the main one being the advantage of avoiding players such as Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic in the first few rounds.
However, they also gain access to an exclusive locker room limited to just the 32 seeds.
Jack Draper went into the wrong locker room at Wimbledon
REUTERS
That was a tradition that clearly slipped Draper's mind when he first arrived at the All England Club last week.
"It was funny. Like when I arrived, I went to the changing rooms, there's two changing rooms," Draper said.
"I went to the changing rooms upstairs, got my locker, all my stuff, got everything I needed, got everything sorted.
"That's what you sort of do as a player. You get your locker, you're happy with it.
"The guy said, 'Oh, no, you're in the wrong locker room. Go downstairs because you're seeded now'.
"No, it was a great feeling to obviously come here seeded, feeling like I belong a little bit more with the top players in the world.
"That's exactly where I want to be. Yeah, I haven't really thought too much of it. Just been cracking on."
Draper got his Championships up and running on Tuesday and had to dig deep with a five-set win over Elias Ymer.
He now moves on to face compatriot Norrie in the second round in a blockbuster all-British clash.
And Draper feels he will now have a target on his back from other British players wanting to take his place.
Jack Draper is seeded at a major for the first time in his career
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"Obviously he won't like the fact that I'm British No. 1 now," Draper said.
"I'm a lot younger. Obviously got Dan and Cam, Andy might be stopping soon.
"Dan and Cam definitely probably won't like seeing me being British No. 1.
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Jack Draper faces Cameron Norrie next
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"I think that creates a really healthy rivalry and environment.
"Like I said, I think we all have great respect for each other. We all want to see each other succeed and do well.
"It's nice to practice with him when I can. For sure, we're all competitors, we're all individuals. We want to win. We want to do the best we can.
"I think it's going to be a really competitive match on Thursday. Yeah, there won't be any love lost, for sure."