Broadcaster forced to apologise during Jack Draper match that may have cost him $2million

Viewers were wondering if they’d lost their hearing at a tense moment during Jack Draper’s agonising Paris Masters loss to Alex De Minaur.

Draper entered the match on the back of an gruelling three-set win over No. 5 seed Taylor Fritz on Wednesday.

2

The win over the American star kept Draper’s slim hopes of qualifying for the season-ending ATP Finals event alive, although there were still many mountains left to climb, the first of which was to beat the always-energetic De Minaur.

Despite the contest against De Minaur being his seventh match in eight days, Draper started brightly and raced out to a 5-2 lead in the first set.

But the pendulum of momentum soon swung in De Minaur’s favour as he mounted a comeback.

As the pressure and tension continued to build late in the first set, viewers watching on Sky Sports were left confused when the audio from the court vanished.

The commentary was still working, but that was all there was to hear.

“Apologies if you’re having a few issues with the court effects,” commentator Nick Lester said.

“We’re doing all we can to rectify that.”

Eventually the audio returned just as De Minaur had tied proceedings at 5-5, but Draper soon held his nerve to take the first set 7-5.

However, the Brit soon ran out of gas as De Minaur stormed home to claim the next two sets as he emerged with a 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 win.

The defeat killed Draper’s hopes of qualifying for the ATP Finals, which had been given a major boost after his Vienna Open triumph last week.

2

To qualify for the season-ending tournament in Turin, Draper would have needed a victory in Paris along with a deep run at a smaller tournament next week.

The field for the ATP Finals is made up of the top eight players in the rankings, with the winner of the event receiving a cool $2.24million (£1.73million).

Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev and Taylor Fritz have already qualified.

Novak Djokovic, who is sixth in the rankings on 3,910 points, is a likely inclusion but his withdrawal from the Paris Masters leaves him vulnerable.

World No. 7 Casper Ruud is another who could be under threat given he bowed out of Paris in the round of 32 to Australia’s Jordan Thompson and is on 3,855 points.

De Minaur’s win over Draper may have helped him seal a spot in Turin as he leapfrogged Andrey Rublev into eighth and could add even more to his 3,745 points should he continue winning in the French capital.

Rublev, who had multiple mid-match meltdowns in his round of 32 exit, has now taken up a wildcard entry to an ATP 250 event in Metz next week in a last-minute attempt to qualify for the season-ending event.

The ATP Finals begin on November 10.