S Poddar
Confident British No 1 Jack Draper believes he is “100 per cent” certain that he can reach the US Open final, ahead of Friday’s semi-final match. The 22-year-old will face world No 1 Jannik Sinner on Friday night at 8 pm in a mouth-watering contest. It will be live on Sky Sports Tennis and the Sky Sports App.
The way Draper has reached this stage is nothing short of impressive, and after breezing through the tournament so far without dropping a set, he is just two victories away from his first Grand Slam title. The hard work on the road to getting here was paved with dedication and a substantial change in approach to the game.
A year ago, it was a problematic year with injuries that forced him to miss Wimbledon. But 2024 has turned out to be a turning point in his career. His breakthrough came with the triumph at the ATP Tour event in Stuttgart, a win that has been pivotal in reshaping his career.
Speaking to Sky Sports’ Tim Henman, Draper reflected on that feat: “Winning Stuttgart was a huge moment for me. I played two finals before that, and both times I came up short. It was something like-I was good enough player to do it-but I just wasn’t getting over the line. Winning five matches and winning a tournament is an incredible achievement.”.
But the Stuttgart win was more than just the title; it was a turning point that boosted Draper’s self-belief. He said: “When I won that one, it felt strange. There was a massive sigh of relief and it actually made me believe in myself a lot more. It made me a lot more confident in my own skin and really made me believe that by beating the players that I beat, especially to win the tournament, I felt like I belonged a lot more at the really highest level.”
Draper’s newfound confidence hasn’t gone unnoticed. With his tournament win, he now finds himself under the gaze of fellow players who view him as a serious contender. “A lot of the players know my talent and know my tennis capabilities, and probably see me as a dangerous player,” Draper said. “It’s been important for me to show my face on the tour most weeks and show that I’m physically robust. That mentally, I’m all in and doing all the right things, and that also gains respect from the other players.”
His career path has been anything but without its hiccups, and even now Draper is quick to admit how he became disheartened at times with the grind of Futures and Challenger events. “I went through a few years of turmoil with the grind of Futures and Challenger events, while expectations of life on the road were not quite what I had hoped for,” he said.
Injury setbacks last year brought him back down to earth and put a more working mentality into his head: “My perspective changed a lot last year when I started to have a more working mentality where I knew that if I wanted to be one of the best players in the world I had to mature early and give everything to my tennis. No more going out, no more wasting energy on random stuff. I really had to just lock myself away and really focus on what I really wanted to do.”
Now, as Draper stands on the cusp of emulating the successes of Andy Murray and Emma Raducanu at the US Open, he is fuelled by an insatiable pursuit of excellence. “I’m not that kind of person who’s pleased to reach a certain point. I’m always thinking of another challenge, which in life at times is not always good. I wish I was that type of person to appreciate more what I do in my life and achieve. As a tennis player, you’re always hungry for the next thing, you always want something more, and achieve bigger things. Yet, there’s no time to be happy of where I’m at, at the moment. I’m looking forward to Friday .”
As Draper prepares to take on Sinner for a place in the semifinals, his unruffled determination and transformed mindset will be tested. The match promises to be thrilling, offering a moment of destiny in his fledgling career-one that could see him take a big step toward realizing his Grand Slam dream.
