Jack Draper: From two wins to start 2022 to qualifying for Next Gen Finals and Andy Murray praise

It’s a measure of Jack Draper’s swift rise that he entered 2021 with just two tour-level wins to his name.

Those two wins (against top-40 players Alexander Bublik and Jannik Sinner) came at one of only three tournaments Draper played on the ATP Tour last year; the rest of his season was spent on the second-tier ATP Challenger Tour. This year he has taken off.

From No. 265 in the rankings to start 2022, Draper is now up to No. 46, a bigger jump than anyone else in the top 50, and he has become the first British player to ever qualify for the Next Gen Finals, the equivalent of the ATP Finals for under-22 players.

Draper has almost certainly been the breakout player of the year, even if he hasn’t been a complete bolt from the blue.

“He’s always had lots of potential,” former world No. 1 Andy Murray told the ATP earlier this summer. “A lot of ability.”

Draper has turned potential into winning performances at the top level this season. After claiming four ATP Challenger titles early on, he beat former top-10 player Gilles Simon in straight sets in Miami. In Madrid he got another good win over Lorenzo Sonego before causing world No. 8 Andrey Rublev difficulties with his power hitting.

But Draper saved his best for the summer. He beat Taylor Fritz at Queen’s, took out Jenson Brooksby and Diego Schwartzman on his way to making the Eastbourne semi-finals, then made the Canadian Open quarter-finals after coming through qualifying, a run which included upsetting world No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets. Felix-Auger Aliassime became another top-10 Draper scalp at the US Open, where he might have gone further if he wasn’t forced to retire with injury in the third round against Karen Khachanov.

“I think he is the guy,” said Eurosport’s Mats Wilander after watching Draper, a 2018 junior Wimbledon runner-up, in New York.

“I don't want to play against him because he takes the racquet out of your hands. Massive game, massive serve, massive forehand, good enough backhand and great British attitude."

Draper is a big hitter in the biggest sense. His lefty serve can top 130 mph and he can hit winners from either wing. Watching

in his recent demolition of Brooksby at the European Open gives a fascinating view of his quality. Draper moves his opponent around from side to side with groundstrokes before drilling a backhand deep down the line that Brooksby barely bothers to move for.

“I think I've known my tennis ability has been good for a long time now,” he said at the US Open.

“I've known that my tennis is there. It's just about the process of how I'm going to cope physically and mentally.”

Mentally Draper already seems strong. But there remains a slight question mark over his physicality.

A few niggling injuries perhaps prevented him breaking through even earlier and at times this season he has appeared to tire deep into matches. Against top seed Hubert Hurkacz at the European Open this week he played superbly to win the second set, but then cramped and saw the match slip away from him. Draper’s coach James Trotman told Eurosport earlier this year that strength and conditioning training was a key focus. “One of the key goals when we started working together was to stay fit and healthy and gain momentum on the court.”

If there’s a question over whether Draper can stay fit and healthy there are few doubts over his talent after his 2022 season. British No. 2 Dan Evans says Draper has a “massive game” while Murray says he has “no huge weaknesses”.

“For a lot of guys his size that are lefties that I’ve played against in the past, maybe [they] don’t return that well. But he is a good returner for a big guy,” Murray told the ATP.

“The two most important fundamental shots in the game he does well. He serves well, returns well. For a big guy, he moves pretty well also and then from the back of the court, his backhand is a very solid shot. [He] rarely makes unforced errors on that side and then on the forehand, he plays with a lot of spin. When he’s got time he can finish points. He’s got a big forehand when he’s got time to load up on it and he’s a smart player as well and a good competitor. He’s got lots of things going for him.”

At 20, Draper is the fourth-youngest player in the top 50 behind world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, world No. 24 Lorenzo Musetti and world No. 27 Holger Rune. It will be interesting to see how he fares against his peers at the Next Gen Finals in Milan. He hasn’t faced any of the players currently in qualifying positions for the tournament but has crushed Brooksby, a highly-rated 21-year-old American ranked No. 41 in the world, in their two meetings this season.

It’s not hard to imagine Draper pushing further up the rankings in 2023. Whether he can challenge for tournament wins will depend on whether he can stay healthy and improve his endurance levels. But that’s part of Draper’s natural progression. Playing regularly on the ATP Tour is a whole new world from the ATP Challenger Tour in terms of fitness and needing to play at a high level every match. Emma Raducanu has found that out too in her first full season on the WTA Tour.

“The main thing is the physicality,” said Draper after fading in a close four-set match to Alex de Minaur at Wimbledon.

“Next year I’ll be a different player.”

With plenty of room to improve, this could be just the start for Draper.