Jack Draper 'happy' to drop a set as British No.1 gives sickness update after throwing up

Rusty Jack Draper claimed he was "a bit happy" to lose a set in the first round of the US Open because: "I needed tennis in my legs".

And the British No.1 admitted he had feared he would not play the final Grand Slam of the year because of the left arm injury which had ruled him out since Wimbledon.

Draper wore a compression sleeve on his arm and he reduced his average first serve speed by 6kms to avoid the pain. And like in last year's semi-final here, Draper vomited on court in the heat of humidity of New York.

He endured a physical battle against Argentine world No.203 Federico Agustin Gomez who saved a match point in the third set tiebreak and hit 50 winners.

But the No.5 seed - who tried to clear up the mess he made on the court - recovered to win 6-4 7-5 6-7 6-2 in just over three hours.

"It was a tough match - I have not played a singles match for a while now," said Draper

"It wasn't my finest performance but credit to my opponent - he played some outstanding tennis. I've definitely had to rein in my serve a little bit to make sure to keep the pain down.

"It is not giving me pain on my serve but the ramp up is squirt quick to be here so I can't go full-out on my serve. I felt physically fine. The sickness was potentially a bit of nervous energy. I have had problems with my gut.

"I needed tennis in my legs. I needed to play a three-hour match. I was almost a bit happy I lost the third set because my level wasn't amazing. Then I felt like towards the end of the fourth I started to get better and better.I look forward to hopefully improving and getting better as the tournament goes on. I am not putting too much expectation on myself."

Draper, who faces Belgian world No.48 Zizou Bergs next, admitted: I wasn't too sure if I was going to make it here this year. There's obviously a recovery process. The return to competition is probably about eight weeks; I'm here seven weeks, so I'm early."