Britain’s Jack Draper landed the biggest pay-day of his career after winning the UTS Grand Final in London on Sunday, defeating World No 8 Holger Rune to take home an astonishing winner’s cheque of over £430,000 from the new tennis event.
The 21-year-old won all five of his matches across the three days at the ExCel Centre, notching impressive wins against Rune and Casper Ruud on his way to winning the title on his debut at UTS - a fast-paced, shorter version of the sport which utilises a different scoring system to the traditional format.
Draper’s winnings from the three days of were double what he earned from his run to the fourth round of the US Open this season and was almost as much as his total earnings from the entire season on the ATP Tour (£580,000).
Draper broke into the world’s top 40 for the first time earlier this year but was left frustrated by an injury-hit campaign that saw the Briton miss out on his home grand slam at Wimbledon following a shoulder problem.
But the left-hander, who is yet to win a title on the ATP Tour, is confident his injury worries are behind him and is targeting the world’s top 20 ahead of next month’s Australian Open after winning the UTS title in front of his home fans.
“It’s been a really fun event for players and spectators,” Draper said during his on-court interview. “We both brought the best out of each other. It’s not easy with this format, but my coach was right behind me, so I was very happy.”
Draper defeat Rune for the second time in three days in Sunday’s final, overcoming the 20-year-old Dane 12-14, 15-12, 13-10, 19-7 in the four-quarter format. UTS was being held in London for the first time following previous events in LA, Frankfurt and Seoul this season.
