"Jack Draper cheated again";"Not clear at all" - Fans react to controversial moment in Brit's Australian Open win

Jack Draper winning a controversial net point during his third-round win against Aleksandar Vukic at the 2025 Australian Open has sparked discussions among tennis fans. While many believed that the Brit touched the net while hitting the winner, some felt otherwise.

Both Draper and Vukic played five-setters in their opening two rounds and after the former won the fourth set tiebreaker, he took the match into yet another deciding set. The 15th seed won the 10-point tiebreaker in the fifth set to win the topsy-turvy thriller 6-4, 2-6, 5-7, 7-6(5), 7(10)-6(8).

However, during the 10-point tiebreaker, a controversial incident took place. Jack Draper, down 5-6, came to the net while hitting a winner to get a mini-break back. The Brit came extremely close to the net after hitting his winner and this has resulted in a huge debate among tennis fans on X (formerly Twitter).

It is worth noting that neither the umpire nor Vukic showed any concerns about Draper's foot touching the net.

One fan said Draper cheated again, seemingly alluding to his controversy against Felix Auger-Aliassime at the Cincinnati Masters last year. The Brit hit a volley return which bounced on his side of the court before reaching Aliassime, however, the chair umpire didn't witness the bounce and awarded the point to Draper, leaving Aliassime baffled.

"OMG, Jack Draper cheated again! He touched the net with his foot on that previous point," the fan said.

Another fan alluded to the Aliassime incident as well and wrote how the Brit was donning a 'good guy mask'. During his Cincinnati controversy, Draper had urged the umpire to check the incident and was willing to give the Canadian the point if the ball had bounced at his end of the court.

"Not only did Draper touched the net but he showed a lack of sportsmanship by not apologising for the net touch earlier in the exchange Not surprising given what he did against Felix Once again, he shows the true colours behind his good guy mask," the fan opined.

Here are some other reactions from the fans.

"He's going to say he didn't know again," a fan said.

"How did the chair umpire miss that?? Draper's foot cleary touches the net. Unreal how they make mistakes like this in a grandslam match," a fan was shocked.

"Scammed his way as always…," a fan quipped.

However, many fans defended Jack Draper and thought the Brit narrowly avoided touching the net.

"The slow mo clearly shows he didn’t (very close tho)," a fan felt.

"He didnt. If you put sound on you see when hear when he stops with his shoe.," a fan deduced.

"Not clear at all if Draper's shoe hits the net, but irrelevant as rules state that the player loses the point only if the ball is still in play i.e. the point is not decided," a fan mentioned.

The 23-year-old will look to put this incident behind him as he faces one of the tournament favorites next.

Jack Draper to face Carlos Alcaraz in Australian Open 2025 4R

Jack Draper - Source: Getty

Jack Draper will face third seed Carlos Alcaraz in the fourth round of the 2025 Australian Open, in what will be the fourth meeting between the two men. Though the Spaniard leads their head-to-head 2-1, the Brit won their most recent meeting at the 2024 Queen's Club Championships in straight sets.

While Draper has played three consecutive five-setters, Alcaraz has been in fine form. He kicked things off with a straight-set win against Alexander Shevchenko following which he decimated Yoshihito Nishioka. The 21-year-old then defeated Nuno Borges 6-2, 6-4, (3)6-7, 6-2 to reach the fourth round. He is aiming to become the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam.

The winner of their match will play either Novak Djokovic or Jiri Lehecka in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.