Jack Draper has proven his doubters wrong and is ready to win Wimbledon
Born to tennis royalty, Draper’s supreme work ethic and ascent up the rankings in the past 12 months have been astonishing. As he begins his grass court season at Queen’s, Kieran Jackson looks at why he poses a serious challenge to Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner for the Wimbledon title
To pinpoint the exact moment where British No 1 Jack Draper launched his ascent to the upper echelons of men’s tennis, you’d need only go back 12 months this very weekend.
Off the back of a disappointing first-round exit at the 2024 French Open, Draper broke his ATP title duck with a statement triumph on the grass in Stuttgart. That week, as he has since acknowledged, something clicked in his big-hitting, flamboyant lefty game.
A few days later, the Brit outgunned Carlos Alcaraz at Queen’s. While the Spaniard would go on to win his second title at SW19 a few weeks later, Draper slumped to a disappointing second-round loss to compatriot Cameron Norrie.
However, what has followed has been splendid. A US Open semi-final, a title in Vienna last October and a Masters 1000 victory in Indian Wells in March – a tournament seen by many as the fifth Grand Slam. Yet, most impressive of all? A newfound physical and mental resilience to compete with the very best, week in, week out.
The net result? A career-high ranking of world No 4 for the 23-year-old from Sutton. Frustratingly, he will enter Queen’s on Monday at No 5, behind Novak Djokovic, with his Stuttgart points dropping off. But the race to be fourth seed at Wimbledon – with the prospect of avoiding the likes of Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev and Alcaraz until the semi-final – is very much on, as Draper returns to Queen’s this week.
The summer of ’24 was a huge turning point. Draper, the son of former LTA chief executive Roger and ex-British junior tennis champion Nicky, has struggled immensely with injuries and physical fitness since turning professional in 2021. Shoulder and hip issues – remember Andy Murray’s issues with the latter – have plagued him, while he has regularly vomited on court in humid conditions.
“Coming into last year, the only goal was to stay fit and healthy,” Draper’s long-term coach, James Trotman, told the ATP website in March. Interestingly, Draper’s short-term coaching trial with South African ex-pro Wayne Ferreira last summer did not last more than a few months, with the Brit ultimately placing complete trust in Trotman, who is double his age at 46.
“We were at the point where it didn’t matter how good he could be, or was going to be, our focus was to keep him fit. It’s challenging to build up trust in your body again. It’s not something that happens instantly. This has been a long journey.
”It wasn’t just one injury, it was three or four on the back of each other. I thought that was enough. ‘What are we going to do here, Jack? Who are the people we’re going to put around you?’ That was the first objective. It’s okay to fail, but if we do, it’s not because we’re not trying.”
Sporting a backwards cap at all times – Lleyton Hewitt-esque – Draper emits something of a braggadocio persona; yet that could not be further from the truth. First emerging in the public eye in 2018, Draper reached the final of junior Wimbledon, winning a marathon semi-final 19-17 in the final set after four hours and 23 minutes. His heart in the heat of battle has never wavered. Quickly, he was elevated to the role of hitting partner for the Great Britain Davis Cup team.
“There was a lot of potential there,” Trotman said of Draper, the junior. “He was very small until the age of 15 or 16. He grew up as a smaller player, having to compete against bigger guys, having to defend and find ways of being competitive against the stronger players who could hit him off the court.
“His identity from a young age was to be a little bit more defensive. All of a sudden, he grows to 6’ 4” and he’s serving out of a tree and hitting the ball big. A big part of that coaching journey that we’re still on today is to try and impose his weapons on the court and take the racquet out of his opponent's hand.”
Draper was also able to learn from Murray during the latter stages of his career as part of the Davis Cup team, while showcasing his personality. Notably, GB’s celebrations on the way back from the 2023 victory over France, where a young Draper, in a bucket hat and sipping a beer, belted out The Proclaimers’ classic “500 Miles”, with the viral video showing an unimpressed Murray.
Whilst his raw ability – his fierce serve and swashbuckling forehand are his two greatest assets – has never been in doubt, his fitness over best-of-five set tennis has often been placed under the microscope. In fact, not unlike the early stages of Murray’s career. Pleasingly, Draper dedicated his most recent off-season, when nursing a hip injury, to his physical conditioning and notably employed a breathing coach.
“I had a lot of problems with my sinuses when I was younger so I breathe a lot through my mouth,” explained Draper, having come through three back-to-back five-set matches at the Australian Open in January.
“When you are anxious or have long points and you have to recover quickly, it's not efficient to breathe through your mouth. So, I've been trying to reverse what I do and breathe through my nose a lot more.”
Fast-forward six months, Draper is one of the fittest athletes on tour. So much so that the effervescent Alexander Bublik, prior to beating the Brit in the fourth round, said to him at Roland Garros: “Are you getting ready for UFC?!”
Now firmly rooted in the top 10 in the rankings, Draper does not want his upward trajectory to stop. The Putney resident was back on court at Queen’s ahead of the tournament, hitting with former world No 14 Kyle Edmund, who knows a thing or two about career-impacting injuries.
Draper will play just one warm-up tournament, at Queen’s, before Wimbledon. While still a step short of Sinner and Alcaraz’s insane level of consistency, as shown by their magnificent five-hour-plus Roland-Garros final, the Briton has the potential to cause an upset if either player has an off day.
He has beaten both Sinner and Alcaraz at Queen’s, in 2021 and 2024. His hard-hitting game is well-suited to the quick nature of grass-court tennis. And should the draw surprisingly open up at any point, he will be ready to pounce at SW19.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments