Jack Draper has disagreed with BBC pundit John McEnroe's verdict after suffering an exit from Wimbledon.
The American tennis legend admitted that the expectations he had publicly placed on Britain's top male player may have contributed to his early exit.
Draper, the world number four, fell to Croatian veteran Marin Cilic 6-4 6-3 1-6 6-4 on Court No.1 yesterday.
The 23-year-old had been widely tipped as a genuine contender for his first Grand Slam title at SW19.
Jack Draper has denied that pressure got to him, as John McEnroe suggested
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McEnroe acknowledged his role in building up those expectations during his commentary work for the BBC.
"It looked to me early on, I was watching on the monitor a lot of the match, that Jack looked tight," McEnroe said. "I'm not surprised he was tight."
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The former world number one explained his reasoning: "There were a lot of people with expectations, including myself, that he is a challenger and a contender for the first time.
"Maybe he thought he could actually do it, and so that was putting pressure on himself."
The 36-year-old Cilic controlled much of the contest, delivering what many considered a below-par performance from Draper despite the Briton taking the third set convincingly.
Draper firmly rejected McEnroe's suggestion that pressure had affected his performance when speaking to reporters after the match.
"You guys keep mentioning the pressure, but I was just beaten by the better player. I lost because I wasn't good enough," the British number one said in his post-match press conference.
His comments directly contradicted McEnroe's assessment that expectations had made him appear tight on court.
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Jack Draper suffered a shock defeat and has never reached the third round of Wimbledon
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The 23-year-old's insistence that Cilic simply outplayed him suggested he was unwilling to accept external pressure as an excuse for his disappointing second-round exit.
Despite entering as world number 82, Cilic produced a commanding display to secure victory.
The 2014 US Open champion will face unseeded Spaniard Jaume Munar in the third round on Saturday.
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Marin Cilic put on a stellar display to beat Jack Draper against the odds
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Munar, 28, caused his own upset by defeating 28th seed Alexander Bublik in his opening match.
McEnroe also suggested that even victory against Cilic would not have led to championship glory for Draper. "Draper was supposed to play Novak in the quarters, so that's sort of opened it up.
"Just think what Draper would have had to do - beat Djokovic, Sinner and Alcaraz. I don't think he was quite there yet to win it."
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