Jack Draper’s reminder of his new-found place among the elite came with a tap on the shoulder in a Wimbledon changing room last year. He arrived at SW19 and made his way upstairs to secure his locker ahead of the championships, laying out his kit and settling into his temporary base.
It was only then that Draper was informed he should be downstairs in a separate locker room for the seeded players, an exclusive club the Briton had joined at a Grand Slam for the first time.
There will be no wrong turns this year, Draper fully aware of where he belongs. The 23-year-old arrives at Wimbledon not just as a seed but as a genuine title contender after climbing to fourth in the world rankings.
Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are the sport’s leading men, having split the past six Grand Slams between them, but Draper has wins over both to his name and this could be the year in which he closes the gap. Draper has a 4-2 losing record to Alcaraz and is 1-1 head-to-head with the Italian but lost in straight sets to Sinner in the US Open semi-finals last year and retired when two-sets down against Alcaraz in Melbourne in January.
Alcaraz and Sinner played out a remarkable French Open final, won by the Spaniard in five hours and 29 minutes, making clear that beating either over best-of-five sets is as difficult as it gets.
It is a task he will not face until the semi-finals at Wimbledon, as a result of being the fourth seed, but to reach that stage will be challenging enough. Draper has been handed an incredibly difficult draw, potentially facing former Wimbledon finalist Marin Cilic in round two and then Alexander Bublik, a recent winner in Halle and the man who knocked the Briton out of the French Open, in the third round.
Novak Djokovic is projected to be waiting in the quarter-finals. There are, therefore, five hard-fought wins that need be earned before talk of Alcaraz and Sinner becomes relevant, which Draper has been keen to point out, and he is also strikingly modest when discussing the challenge posed by the pair.
“It’s time, it’s experience — they have much more of that than me right now,” Draper says. “They’re similar ages, but they’ve been on tour being a top player maybe a couple of years more than I have. What they’ve been able to do is incredibly impressive, the results and titles speak for themselves. I’m still a long way from where they’re at. I aspire to be with them but right now I’ve got to focus on myself and work hard to prove that I can get to their level.”
With Alcaraz only 22 and Sinner turning 24 this summer, a new era of men’s tennis has very much arrived and looks set to be dominated by the two for the next decade. While it may feel premature to talk of Draper making it a “big three”, having only once made it past the fourth round of a Grand Slam while his rivals have eight titles between them, his opponents and the betting markets disagree.
“He’s already there,” Alcaraz says of Draper. “He’s beat me, he’s put Jannik in trouble, he’s won big titles. He’s fighting for great things. His game is pretty high right now, he’s learned a lot the last year.”
He is viewed as a serious contender and the fourth favourite behind Alcaraz, Sinner and Djokovic. With the seven-time champion in the final chapter of his career and the likes of Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev now approaching 30, Draper has placed himself as the most likely challenger in the years ahead.
“A lot of people have said me and Jannik have put the level into another place, and players that I play against say the same. I don’t know if I feel the same way,” Alcaraz says. “Jack is one of those players who is going to be there for sure. I love his game and he’s ready to be there in the top for many years.”
Sinner and Draper are close off the court, with the Italian responding to a request for culinary tips a few years ago by teaching Draper how to cook pasta.
“We get along well and had some great and very intense practice sessions in Monaco before Rome this spring,” Sinner says. The world No1 has predicted Draper will have an “incredible career”, but admitted last month that his rise up the rankings has started to put limits on those shared training sessions.
“Things are a little bit different,” Sinner said. “Of course, we are very good friends off the court, but we practise a little bit less together because we might know that we can face each other in the later stages of tournaments.”
Jack’s beaten me, he’s put Jannik in trouble, he’s won big titles and is fighting for great things. He’s learned a lot the last year. I love his game
There is a duality to Draper’s status, now established as one of the best players in the sport and yet still not perhaps hugely familiar to a casual British audience preparing for their annual fortnight of tennis viewing. That is predominantly explained by Draper’s lack of success at Wimbledon, which he missed through injury in 2023 and where he has otherwise managed only two wins across three visits. He is now, though, a very different player.
Draper reached the semi-finals of the US Open last year, where he lost to eventual winner Sinner. Since then, he has won an ATP 500 event in Vienna and lifted the trophy at Indian Wells — the sport’s unofficial “fifth major” — in March.
“The consistency in my results has helped me to feel like I belong at the top level more and more,” Draper says. “That helps when I’m on court competing, feeling like I’m in control of the moment. That I can do anything and beat the best players.”
The early years of Draper’s career were dogged by injury issues, the Briton showing glimpses of his potential but unable to maintain it over consistent periods.
“I felt like I looked like a bit of a Ferrari but I was a bit of a Toyota, like broke down quite easily,” Draper admitted last week. “Now I’m starting to feel generally stronger and confident in myself.”
Three consecutive five-set wins at the Australian Open showed progress had been made despite enduring a disrupted pre-season, even if he did ultimately retire against Alcaraz, and the signs have remained largely encouraging.
However, those long matches in Melbourne ultimately caught up with Draper and a more efficient route through the early stages of Wimbledon feels crucial. He needed four sets in the first two rounds at the French Open. At Queen’s last week in draining heat, he was taken the distance by Alexei Popyrin, Brandon Nakashima and Jiri Lehecka.
That Draper is capable of coming through those longer examinations is a positive — especially after he revealed that he was struggling with low energy after a bout of tonsillitis — but it would be even more of one if he could delay, if not avoid, having to do so.
There is also the question of pressure. Draper was the British No1 last year when beaten by compatriot Cameron Norrie in the second round, but the small matter of Andy Murray’s retirement tour ensured the spotlight was largely fixed elsewhere. The glare of expectation will this time be firmly locked on Draper.
As Murray himself demonstrated, Wimbledon success for British players, with all the fanfare and added distractions, can require patience. Murray reached the quarter-finals for the first time in 2008, followed that with three consecutive semi-final appearances and then made the final a year later. Only in 2013 did he reach the SW19 summit.
Draper has not yet put any of those building blocks in place, his Wimbledon stays all brief since reaching the boys’ singles final in 2018.
He certainly has the attributes to be a force on grass, with the powerful groundstrokes and big lefty serve. That was proved by claiming the Stuttgart title last year, and Draper is the only man to beat Alcaraz on grass since Sinner defeated the Spaniard at Wimbledon in 2022. Performing now at Wimbledon as Britain’s most realistic hope will be Draper’s ultimate test.
He had looked set for a deep run at the French Open this month, but fell to a frustrating fourth-round defeat against Alexander Bublik. Sinner, by contrast, dropped only six games against Bublik in the quarter-finals.
I’ve got people to lean on in Murray and Henman. I’m very fortunate to have that but I haven’t spoken too much to them about it. Everyone’s on their different journey
Delivering as one of the top seeds in a Grand Slam is the next step for Draper to take and many view it as almost an inevitability. Among those is John McEnroe, who declared he would “be surprised if he doesn’t win multiple majors”.
Whether Draper can make that jump over the next two weeks could come down to how well he insulates himself from grand projections.
“I know that comes with being more successful,” Draper says. “I focus on the things that are in my control — I can’t control noise, and what people say and what people think. It’s a big compliment that they think I’m worthy of those things. I’m yet to prove it but I’m working as hard as I can.”
Has he spoken with Murray about coping with carrying the nation’s hopes at Wimbledon? “No, not really,” Draper replies. “I know that I’ve got people to lean on in Murray and Tim Henman. I’m very fortunate to have that but at the same time I haven’t spoken too much to them about it. Everyone’s on their different journey and has their own way of dealing with things. But they’ve always said to me that if I need to lean on them, I can.”
Should Draper find himself strolling onto Centre Court deep into the second week of the tournament, there are no better examples of performing under the ultimate pressure than Alcaraz. The Spaniard has won all five of his Grand Slam finals, saving three championship points at Roland Garros last month, and has a 7-1 record in ATP 1000 finals. Only Djokovic in Cincinnati two years ago has got the better of Alcaraz, surviving a match point and needing almost four hours to do so. Few have Alcaraz’s ability to produce their best tennis when there is so much on the line.
“It is time to go for it, don’t be afraid and show the people that I’m a real champion,” he explains. “That’s what I repeat to myself all the times — you have to go for it in those big situations. That makes the difference. I never wait for the chances, I look forward.”
Draper need not worry about looking ahead, with plenty queuing up to do that on his behalf. The Briton was asked at Queen’s whether a fresh rebranding of Wimbledon’s iconic Henman Hill, or Murray Mound, was going to be required this summer.
He jokingly put forward Draper’s Dune as an option before swiftly dismissing Draper’s Drop, but Draper’s desire will be to minimise external expectation weighing heavily on his shoulders.
Do that and he will hope his body can hold up over two weeks. If it does, he will believe he can go toe-to-toe with Alcaraz and Sinner on the biggest stage. If he can, a Wimbledon renaming really might be on the cards.
