timeEngland and Scotland may have been a bit lukewarm at the Euros and Andy Murray may be doing his best for one final Wimbledon, but the emergence of Jack Draper is at least good news for British sports fans.
Last week at Queen’s, the UK’s top-ranked player defeated defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the second round. It was a breakthrough victory for the 22-year-old left-hander, whose thunderous serve kept Alcaraz – who won the French Open less than three weeks ago – at a disadvantage. Like Alcaraz, whose forehand often elicited gasps from spectators because of its power, Draper wowed fans when he fired a 135-mile-per-hour bullet.
Draper didn’t appear out of nowhere. He defeated Novak Djokovic in the first set of the first round at Wimbledon 2021 and broke into the top 100 the following year. Injury hampered his progress in 2023 and caused him to miss Wimbledon, but he bounced back into form at the US Open later in the year, reaching the fourth round. After working hard on his fitness, he was able to play a more complete schedule in 2024, and a week before the Queen’s Cup, he won his first career ATP Tour title in Stuttgart, defeating the former Wimbledon in the final Runner-up Matteo Berrettini.
Like Murray, Draper has struggled recently to stay positive in his game and be more aggressive on the court to counter his defensive nature. “It’s tough because historically the way I’ve won games is by outrunning players and being hard to beat,” he said.
“This brought me up to 40 in the world rankings. But [against] These really top players, whether it’s Alcaraz, [Hubert] Hurkacs, [Taylor] Fritz, I lost a lot of tough games and it was all because they ended up beating me and I was too defensive and I didn’t take it to them. Ultimately, I want to play tennis and beat these guys by being aggressive and being the one who dominates them.
Draper will be seeded at Wimbledon for the first time, ranked No. 28. His starting opponent is Swedish player Elias Immel, ranked 206th in the world, and may face British player Cam Norrie in the second round. While fellow seeded Katie Boult, Emma Raducanu and Billy Harris offer hope of a big win, Draper has the big game and now big game mentality. As Alcaraz said after Queen’s War, “His mentality is a little better, he’s always in a positive light. I think that’s a very good thing for him. I think things have changed a little bit.” .
If Murray can prove his fitness in time, he will face Czech player Tomas Makhach, ranked 38th in the world. Murray’s game is scheduled for Tuesday instead of Monday, giving him an extra day to try to recover from surgery for a spinal cyst in his back. “The pace I’m increasing now, if this continues, those extra 72 to 96 hours will make a huge difference,” Murray said Thursday.
England could exit the European Championships at the start of Wimbledon, with their last-16 knockout tie against Slovakia starting at 5pm on Sunday. No matter what, Draper has the ability to put a smile on fans’ faces.
