Jack Draper will be straight on the phone to Andy Murray asking for more regular advice when the two-time Wimbledon champion calls time on his career later this year.
The 37-year-old is in the final throes of an outstanding career, having confirmed earlier this year that he is unlikely to play past the summer.
Murray has already been a source of guidance and support for Draper but the 22-year-old is ready to tap into the Scot’s wealth of experience.
“It is going to be much easier to tap into him when he has finished,” Draper told the PA news agency.
“As a tennis player you don’t have time to think of anything but yourself. You are always thinking what you can do better.
“When he has stopped I will be contacting him a lot more, asking him for opinions on certain things, asking him what he has tried and if it has worked for him.
“I am definitely going to lean on Andy a lot and I am sure he will want to help me because he has always been very supportive of me.
“I think when he stops he will want to help more because he is not so focused on his own things.”
With Murray, a double Wimbledon, US Open and two-time Olympic champion, leaving the scene, there are some large shoes to fill from a British point of view.
Draper, currently ranked 35th in the world, has shown he has the talent to challenge at the top of the game and admits he feels a responsibility to take the baton.
“Andy has done so much for British tennis and so much for the sport in general, for me he is one of the greatest players of all time,” Draper added. “He is going to have an unbelievable legacy and I do feel a responsibility to lead on from where he has been.
“I want to achieve so much in the sport, it is not all about winning, it is about inspiring kids to play and making people pick up a racket and knowing that tennis isn’t all just about playing on Centre Court Wimbledon, it can be amazing for so many people in different ways.”
So, does Draper see himself winning a title on Centre Court one day?
“It would be a dream come true, it would be incredible,” he said. “There are not many people who get to do it but when I am working hard on a daily basis I often think about those moments and lifting up big trophies and being the player I want to be, that feeling is why I play.
“I don’t play for the money, I am not a very materialistic person. I want to be incredibly successful and achieve what I can in the sport.”
Draper is supporting Play Your Way To Wimbledon – a national competition with regional and county rounds, which sees winners get the chance to play in the National Finals at SW19.
This year’s competition includes a new junior wheelchair category, which joins an U14 singles and U18 doubles pathway, an adults’ doubles pathway, plus visually impaired, wheelchair, and learning disability pathways.
He added: “That is where tennis is seeming to go in an amazing direction to get into these things where it is allowing people with all different kinds of ways to get into sport and to play and compete and be a part of something.
“Tennis has the ability to help people in so many different situations and make tennis really inclusive. It is not really all about being a top player.”
:: Vodafone, Official Connectivity Partner of Wimbledon, is working with Jack Draper to inspire the next generation of tennis players through Play Your Way To Wimbledon.
