Draper

Jack Draper was full of praise for Andy Murray after winning their first clash on the ATP Tour.

The 20-year-old defeated the tennis legend 7-6(6), 6-2 to book his spot in the last 16 of the Indian Wells Masters . And in an on-court interview with Amazon Prime Video, the world no. 56 felt “privileged” to have contested a match against the 35-year-old.

“I’ve looked up to Andy since I was so young,” he gushed. “I watched him win Wimbledon for the first time in 2013 and then I’ve had the opportunity to get to know him and practise with him often since 2019. He’s a really special person, a great champion, great human being and I’m privileged to play against him on this court.”

Draper has certainly learnt a lot from Murray which he put to good use throughout their two-hour encounter on court 2 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. He fended off a set point with an ace at 5-6 in the opening set, then won the final four games to seal a famous result, clinching it on a double fault for his third break of the match.

He showed impressive defensive skills to keep Murray at bay and utilised the net impressively, winning 18 of his 26 points when he ventured forward. The result marks Draper’s second straight victory against a fellow Briton in Indian Wells, having beaten Dan Evans in the second round.

“I want to keep on trying to impose my game and use my weapons,” Draper said of his ventures into the front-court. “It’s not easy in these conditions. It’s quite slow tonight, the wind was a bit swirly and obviously playing against Andy, he makes it incredibly awkward for you. It’s something I’m looking to improve with my coach and it’s definitely starting to pay off a little bit more.”

The youngster will now face a player he may cross paths with many times over the next several years – the tournament’s top seed Carlos Alcaraz. Since returning from injury last month, match by match the sport’s young superstar is regaining the form that saw capture his first Grand Slam title at last year’s US Open.

He defeated Tallon Griekspoor in the third round at Indian Wells to become the second fastest player to register 100 ATP Tour wins, only behind John McEnroe. Guaranteed to regain the number one ranking should he win the title this weekend, the Spaniard is on a mission and is looking to vanquish anyone who stands in his way.

Though wary of the artillery possessed by the teenager, Draper is ready to play his best tennis in what is sure to be an entertaining tussle. “Beating Dan and Andy, that’s about as much confidence as I’d need for that (Alcaraz) match,” he added.

“Carlos is another level up, he’s been number one in the world, had an exceptional year last year, so it would be amazing to play him again in another real battle.”

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KATE Garraway’s husband Derek Draper has flown to Mexico again for a “potentially life-saving” trial.

The Good Morning Britain star told The Sun the gruelling trip required “extraordinary effort” and said she hopes he will return for another round of treatment.

Kate explained: “At the beginning of last year, we flew him back to Mexico again for part of the treatment he is undertaking.

“The effort required to get him there is extraordinary, and obviously we are relying on the grace of these specialists to help him.

“I can’t thank all those involved in getting him to Mexico enough because without them he wouldn’t have the chance of this potentially life changing treatment.”

She added: “The plan is to go back for another round of treatment and continue the trial in a way that is financially viable.”

While the NHS has been invaluable in keeping Derek alive, it is the caring aspect  outside the hospital walls that have shocked Kate.

Kate, 55, said: “There are some days where he literally cannot do anything and it’s like the computer is switched off.

“He cannot move, and he’s in so much pain as we are manipulating him, trying to get him more mobile so that he doesn’t regress. I always ask him if he wants to stop, and he grunts ‘no. no’.

“It is unbearable, and it makes me emotional even talking about it.

“But it also makes me fall in love with him all over again because of that spirit, that determination to keep going.”

Kate also spoke about life with Derek , also 55, saying: “Every day is a roller coaster.”

She added: “Derek’s spirit fluctuates. Sometimes he lies there, unable to move, with tears rolling down his face and it is heart-breaking.

“But if it’s hard for us, I cannot imagine how hard it must be for him.

“Perhaps there is the assumption that because I’m on the telly, and because people have heard so much of Derek’s story — and he has touched so many hearts — that we’ve had special treatment from the NHS or bypassed waiting lists.

“We haven’t jumped any queues, which is just as it should be. There are only so many resources, and we are still waiting on referrals from almost three years ago.

“Of course it’s been tough financially. As anyone with a loved one who is seriously ill knows, the costs go through the roof in so many ways. You have to make changes to your home and it affects your ability to work.

“I had to take long periods off when Derek was first sick, and of course if affects the overall income for the family as he can no longer work.

“We had to wind up the business we had together, and also I’ve had to take on assistants so that I can focus on Derek when not on air.

“Derek was always so incredibly supportive of my work, but I didn’t realise just how much he did do in that area until he couldn’t anymore.

“But we will never give up trying and I know I’m in an incredibly lucky position compared to so many, which is why I want to speak up now on behalf of everyone else.”

Derek – whose days are largely filled with “appointments, hospital trips, and sleeping” – has been the subject of two critically acclaimed documentaries fronted by Kate.

A third is in the pipeline — this time a hard-hitting expose on the broken care system.

The popular presenter is also issuing a call to arms for Sun readers, those who have experienced first-hand the overworked care and health system.

She said: “We are all going to end up either caring for someone we love, or needing to be cared for.

“It is something no-one really understands until they’re in it. The extraordinary nature of carers, they are the absolute bedrock of our health service.

“But the challenges of the system we have now need addressing. Everyone I speak to says the system is broken, it doesn’t work. Simply, we are in a mess.”

Kate added: “I’ve got to the stage now where they tell me to blow the whistle on it all, and shout about it.

“There are huge backlogs, there’s mass underfunding and there is also an under-appreciation of the skill of the carer.

“But I don’t just want to be angry about it, I want to affect change. Until now, I wasn’t ready. My focus had to be on Derek and the children.

“But now I am ready to do another documentary with ITV. I  want to make it about other people’s stories, not only ours.

“I’d love your readers to get in touch with their experiences. If they want to be a part of it, they can. I’ve had thousands of emails from people. They want me to speak out on their behalf.

“I also hope the people in positions of authority who have told me that they will speak out will be brave enough to do so. If we stop blaming and start working together we can fix a problem that desperately needs fixing.”

While Derek’s long-term chance of recovery is still not known, the “utter devastation” to his body is undeniable.

One brain scan last year showed bright patches of white, something more usually seen in patients with vascular dementia.

But Kate said: “The pattern was very different so he still doesn’t have a clear diagnosis.”

He recently underwent a series of lung tests, but is awaiting more, and currently has challenges with breathing.

Kate is also surviving on around four hours sleep, often getting up every two hours at night to help the carer move him. She washes and changes his bed linen at least seven times a day.

Derek spent the majority of last year in hospital, but the first  months of this year being cared for at home.

Last summer, he was rushed to hospital after being diagnosed with sepsis that nearly killed him.

Kate explained: “His sepsis was gut-wrenching for all of us because it had gone undiagnosed until the point where it was about to take his life away again.

“At one point Derek said to me, ‘This is it, this time. I am gone.’ It was just terrifying.

“Poor Derek’s condition currently covers about 11 specialisms of medical care, so getting all the different departments to coordinate and keeping records sometimes feels like a full time job in itself.

“Fortunately though, Derek is extraordinary and his spirit is extraordinary, and it keeps all of us going. Every day is emotional —  but Derek is with us, and still fighting.”

Derek Draper is seen on a rare trip outside – as friends hope that fresh air will “aid his recovery”.

New photos show him in a wheelchair wrapped up in a coat and gloves whilst out and about in London with a carer.

But unfortunately, he is still on a long road to recovery after suffering significant organ damage when he first contracted coronavirus early in 2020.

A family friend told the Mirror: “Over the last couple of weeks Derek’s been going in and out of hospital for a number of ongoing appointments and tests, as a number of referrals he has been waiting for since his first release from hospital in April 2021 have come through.

“Even though he can only sit for very short periods of time, the medical teams are now very keen he gets short bursts of fresh air with his nurse to aid his recovery. Derek’s friends and Kate are really hoping he can build on this.”

Derek, 55, has been almost constantly bedridden since he contracted coronavirus in March 2020 and was hospitalised for 13 months and in a medically-induced coma. He returned home in April 2021 but still needs round-the-clock care.

At the start of last year, there were signs of improvement but progress is slow and he has been in hospital a number of times since being released with other health issues.

Asked how the family are now in an interview earlier this month, Kate, 55, said: “They’re OK, they’re good. It is challenging, he’s still very, very damaged. He still can’t really move, still can’t really speak, still fed through tubes, and so there’s a long road ahead.

“But if you compare it to last Christmas or the Christmas before, when he was still in hospital then you can see improvement.

“It’s just, you just want it to be quicker and faster, of course, like everybody would.

“But it’s a challenging one – he spent most of last year in the hospital as well for various different things, so it was lovely to have him home.”

She also told this month about how she and their children Darcey, 17, and Billy, 13 are trying to make Derek more mobile on days where he shows improvement.

She said: “There are some days where he literally cannot do anything and it’s like the computer is switched off.

“He cannot move, and he’s in so much pain as we are manipulating him, trying to get him more mobile so that he doesn’t regress.

“I always ask him if he wants to stop, and he grunts ‘no. no’.

“It is unbearable, and it makes me emotional even talking about it.

“But it also makes me fall in love with him all over again because of that spirit, that determination to keep going.

“Derek is trapped, but he fights on. We cling on to the good days.”

Earlier this month Kate also told how she had recently taken her first family holiday abroad to Disneyland Paris.

The family, including children Darcey and Billy had been to Disneyland Paris weeks before Derek got ill and have now returned there again. He was sadly too ill to go with them.

On the Journey To Magic podcast, Kate said: “We have just got back to Disneyland Paris. So, it was our big goal to go back there with Derek, unfortunately, on the morning [of the trip] he couldn’t come.

“But we went back there with the kids and I was lucky enough to go with my best friend Vicky and it was just an amazing thing, so it’s a special place.”

Recalling the last time they were there, Kate said: “I remember as we headed back to get on the train under the tunnel we went into a pharmacy to get some paracetamol or something and everywhere in French it said ‘no masks all sold out’.

“I remember Derek and I saying to each other, ‘god they’re taking it really seriously over here’ and then we came back and it was literally about two or three weeks later Derek got sick and so it was the last thing we did together.”

Former political advisor Derek is thought to be the worst affected living Covid patient in the UK.

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Kate Garraway has opened up about the sweet nights in she shares with her “bedridden” husband Derek Draper.

The Good Morning Britain host opened up to Succession actor Brian Cox about how her and husband Derek, who is thought to be the longest-suffering coronavirus patient in the UK, spend quiet nights in watching the show, which has become a comfort to them.

Derek was admitted to hospital back in 2020 after catching coronavirus and whilst he is now home with his wife Kate and kids, Billy and Darcy, he needs round the clock care for his various health issues as he makes slow progress.

Speaking on the ITV breakfast show, she told Brian: “My husband’s bedridden and we’ve been watching it back to back.”

It comes after Kate revealed Derek is still “very very damaged” and struggles to move, speak and has to be fed through tubes.

“It is challenging, he’s still very, very damaged. He still can’t really move, still can’t really speak, still fed through tubes, and so there’s a long road ahead,” she told Giovanna Fletcher on her podcast, Journey To Magic, “But if you compare to last Christmas or the Christmas before, when he was still in hospital then you can see improvement.”

She added: “It’s just, you just want it to be quicker and faster, of course, like everybody would. But it’s a challenging one – he spent most of last year in the hospital as well for various different things, so it was lovely to have him home.”

Kate explained that with Derek, it was like “the computer is switched off”.

“There are some days where he literally cannot do anything and it’s like the computer is switched off. He cannot move, and he’s in so much pain as we are manipulating him, trying to get him more mobile so that he doesn’t regress,” she said.

Kate had also shared how what happened has made her fall in love with him even more.

“It also makes me fall in love with him all over again because of that spirit, that determination to keep going. Derek is trapped, but he fights on. We cling on to the good days,” she admitted in a sweet comment about her husband.

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Kate Garraway has taken her family for their first holiday abroad since husband Derek Draper fell seriously ill during the coronavirus pandemic, but he was unable to join them.

The Good Morning Britain host has been caring for her husband for several years since he contracted Covid-19 and suffered organ failure in March 2020.

Kate has now visited Disneyland Paris with her son Billy and daughter Darcy after the family last went weeks before Derek became seriously unwell.

Kate said it was the family’s ‘big goal’ to go back to the amusement park across the Channel with Derek, but that on the morning of the trip they learned he couldn’t come.

She said: “But we went back there with the kids and I was lucky enough to go with my best friend Vicky and it was just an amazing thing, so it’s a special place.”

Recalling the last time they were there, Kate said: “I remember as we headed back to get on the train under the tunnel we went into a pharmacy to get some paracetamol or something and everywhere in French it said ‘no masks all sold out’.

“I remember Derek and I saying to each other, ‘god they’re taking it really seriously over here’ and then we came back and it was literally about two or three weeks later Derek got sick and so it was the last thing we did together.”

Kate said the family are ‘good’, but added that it was ‘challenging’ as they continue to reckon with Derek’s health struggles.

“He’s still very, very damaged,” she said. “He still can’t really move, still can’t really speak, still fed through tubes, and so there’s a long road ahead.

“But if you compare to last Christmas or the Christmas before, when he was still in hospital then you can see improvement.

“It’s just, you just want it to be quicker and faster, of course, like everybody would. But it’s a challenging one – he spent most of last year in the hospital as well for various different things, so it was lovely to have him home.”

Kate recently told a new podcast that she has yet to receive her MBE, despite being awarded the honour in 2021.

Speaking to Giovanna Fletcher on the Journey to the Magic podcast, she said: “I haven’t got it yet!

“I’m worried that it’s a mistake and they go, ‘Oh this is awkward. It’s got out, let’s just pretend we didn’t ask her and just keep going’.

“I was supposed to have it last year but I think there’s a backlog, that’s what I’ve been told. It’s a little bit like not getting picked for the hockey team, isn’t it?”

She continued: “I have been picked. I’ll keep believing I’ll get my day at the palace… hopefully. It’s lovely to think it might happen. I don’t quite believe it.”

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