Coming into his home Grand Slam tournament, Draper insisted he could handle the increased scrutiny of being the nation’s greatest hope.
When Draper regained his place as the world number four following a run to the Queen’s semi-finals, it was a significant moment.
As fourth seed at Wimbledon, it meant he was guaranteed to avoid world number one Sinner or two-time defending champion Alcaraz – the heavy favourites for the title – until at least the semi-finals.
Draper, however, was quick to urge caution about placing too much importance on the seeding until the draw was made – and he was right.
The Briton encountered few problems in his opening match on Tuesday, dominating clay-court specialist Sebastian Baez in a two-set lead before the Argentine retired injured.
But the looming figure of Cilic was always likely to be more problematic.
Draper had the racquet taken out of his hand in the opening two sets as Cilic executed his gameplan perfectly.
Playing with depth from the baseline to push Draper back, particularly putting scrutiny on his opponent’s backhand, worked a treat.
Draper was unable to get into position to execute his forehand and, although finding his first serve helped survive three break points at 4-3 down, he finally lost serve at the end of the opening set.
With the clouds gathering overhead, and the atmosphere becoming gloomier, Draper lost serve again early and it proved to be the decisive break in the second set.
Draper is still waiting for his Murray moment at Wimbledon – the one where he achieves the impossible at the All England Club and causes waves across the nation during a primetime summer slot.
Murray-mania exploded when the Scot fought back from two sets down against Richard Gasquet in 2008.
If Draper had turned things around against Cilic, it could have been a similar type of moment for him.
There was a brief glimmer of hope as Draper was able to use his forehand to greater effect in the third set, but any hopes of a memorable comeback were extinguished when he was broken again while serving to stay in the match.
