With his looks, charm and explosive game, Jack Draper has got the lot. Including the future of British tennis in his hands.
Before the first Grand Slam in the post-Andy Murray age, Emma Raducanu controversially declared the Scot was “old news”.
Draper, 22, has taken every opportunity to praise the “legend” Murray – the last British man to reach the US Open quarter-finals in 2016 – during his run here. But the 2021 winner here was correct in tennis terms.
By reaching the last eight here in stunning style, the British No.1 is the new star of the sport – and not only in the UK. He is fulfilling the potential seen for years but held back by a string of injuries. His profile was raised even before New York after his controversial match point against Felix Auger-Aliassime in Cincinnati. And every match at Flushing Meadows has been watched by huge crowds.
Draper has performed on and off the court with impressively composed performances in his press conferences. He likes to talk – and does it well. A good test of a player in any sport is how willingly and well they speak when they lose. Now 22, Draper has always been open and honest even after defeats and injuries.
His run to the last eight has followed in the footsteps of Raducanu as he has yet to drop a set or face a seeded player. She won the title here without facing a top-ten player. Draper will today face world No.10 Alex de Minaur who will have the support of the other British No.1 Katie Boulter.
It is the biggest match of his life on the biggest court in tennis – the 23,771-capacity Arthur Ashe Stadium. But Draper has already hit the big time.
Draper’s route from Wimbledon junior finalist to Grand Slam contender has taken him via soul-destroying events in Egypt – and “multiple moments” where he considered quitting the “grind”. And the British No.1 admits his young career has not been all “strawberries and cream.
When you come out the juniors, you’re into the 15Ks, the Challengers, it’s just crazy,” he recalled. “You have to go to all these hard places to play tennis and beat men. And it’s really difficult. It’s not the sort of strawberries and cream of Wimbledon that I expected, you know? And so it was a real grind for a few years, getting my head around the nature of the tennis world and the nature of how hard I’m going to have to work to be a top player, and the travel and the sacrifice.
“In the Futures, you’re in Egypt for five weeks in the same place so you can’t go anywhere. You’re just seeing the courts, the hotel and the food hall. That’s it for five weeks. And it’s a real mental battle to not get into bad habits and keep your focus.
“And then it got to lockdown. And at the time the ITF did a change to the points system, and it was really tough for players to break through. And during that period, I just had a real reflection. And I generally thought that maybe I wasn’t cut out for tennis. But I had good people around me. I came back and worked hard
