Jack Draper issues exciting message after Madrid Open final heartbreak

has claimed the hurt of losing the Madrid Open final will "fuel my fire" to get even better. "I think the exciting thing is there's so much more to come from myself," said the new world No.5. "I am nowhere near where I want to be."

The US Open semi-finalist won his first Masters title at Indian Wells in March and reached his first clay-court final in the Spanish capital.

The British No.1 lost in three gruelling sets to three-time Grand Slam champion Casper Ruud of Norway.

Draper, who is now ranked higher than 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic, said: "It really hurts. But at the same time, I think I've enjoyed a lot of really good successes here.

"I've come through a lot of matches, and so maybe this loss and maybe being in a final and not quite getting over the line just helps me to fuel my fire a bit more that I can, I need to keep on pushing, I need to keep on improving.

"I'm really proud of the way I've been the first few months of this season. I think the exciting thing is there's so much more to come from myself. I feel like there's still areas of my game that I can really improve, and that's very motivating for me and my coach and my team that I honestly feel like I'm at the start of my journey.

"So I'm going to keep on improving and keep on pushing hard and keep these sort of tough moments in my head to keep on driving myself to be better."

Draper will play two more clay events - the Italian Open and then the French Open - before the grass-court season peaks at Wimbledon.

"I knew I was good on the clay," insisted the 23-year-old. "I had a couple of really tight losses last year, and I just needed to get my foot in the door somewhere to show that I'm able to compete to a really high level on this surface.

"I think this week has shown that, and it's shown it to myself, shown it to others. The biggest positive I'm taking away is the fact that I'm still learning how to move and play on this surface, and I'm right there. I'm competing with the best clay courters, the best guys on this surface in the world.

"So I take big encouragement from that, and I hope that I can carry on that next week in Rome, the French. And I think that gives me also big confidence going into maybe a surface that's a bit faster, which I enjoy more, to think: 'Wow, like, I'm doing this on the clay, what can I take out onto the other surfaces as well?'

"I am nowhere near where I want to be, so I think there's plenty of things that are going to keep on improving, and I'm going to keep on getting better and better. I believe that."