When Jack Draper was preparing for his first ever grand slam semi-final at the US Open, he knew he would probably have to go through some of the most stressful, intense moments that he had ever faced on a tennis court. He probably didn’t anticipate that he would be clearing up his own vomit on Arthur Ashe Stadium court – more than once – but then maybe that’s the kind of spirit it takes to reach a first major final. If ultimately he couldn’t quite make it, thanks to the defiance and quality of the world’s top-ranked player in Jannik Sinner, then it was not for the want of trying.
Whatever he goes on to achieve in the rest of his career, no one can ever accuse him of not giving it all. To say that Draper left everything, absolutely everything on the court in his bid to reach the final, is almost an understatement. By the time the match was done, after just over three hours of brutal, intense and at times remarkably unhygienic drama, Draper was spent, hardly able to walk. And yet he also showed that he has the game to match the world’s best, on the biggest stages of all.
When Draper added Wayne Ferreira, the former top-10 player, to his coaching team in May, the first thing the South African did was to convince him that he needed to play more like you would expect someone who stands 6ft 4in to play; to serve bigger, be more aggressive and take the attack to his opponents. For much of his early years on tour, Draper relied on his resistance, backing himself to defend well enough to win. That, Ferreira said, needed to change if he wanted to climb the rankings.
It was a thought process the left-handed Draper took on board, even if he and Ferreira parted ways just before the US Open. But as significant a change as that is always difficult and though he has become far more aggressive, it doesn’t always go right. Against Sinner, he found himself creating big opportunities through huge hitting, especially off his forehand, but then when the chance came, he couldn’t quite take it.
Draper knows that is one of the big differences between the very best in the game and those, like him, who are trying to catch them. Sinner didn’t play his absolute best consistently over the entire match, in part because Draper didn’t let him, but when he needed to step up, as he did in the second-set tie-break, the Italian did just that. At this level confidence can be half the battle and, having won the Australian Open this year for his first slam title and hit No 1 soon after, Sinner is becoming the man to beat.
Draper’s mother, Nicky, and his father, Roger, the former head of the LTA, had flown over to watch their son against Sinner. Their pride was obvious to see as their boy matched the world’s top player for long periods, hanging in under increasing pressure, thanks to big serving and ever-bigger hitting, even when he was struggling to keep the liquids down that he was taking in abundance to combat the humidity.
Having first cleared up his own sweat marks on the court – as Sinner had done for him at times – when he needed to clear his own vomit, he must have had a flashback to this year’s Australian Open when, after a three-hour, 20-minute battle with Marcos Giron, he threw up in a courtside bin. Stress shows itself in different ways for different players; perhaps this is Draper’s toughest battle.
Certainly he looked out on his feet at the start of the third set, his eyes wild as he tried to contemplate the prospect of winning three sets in this kind of state. But again his resilience shone through and, though it was a bridge too far, he did himself huge credit by battling on and forcing Sinner to finish the job.
Draper’s stunning run to a first major semi-final, without dropping a set, had prompted some to start mentioning Emma Raducanu’s incredible triumph in New York in 2021, a year when she won through qualifying and then seven more matches, all without losing a set, to take the title. Raducanu didn’t have to play Sinner, though.
In the end, Draper showed he will give everything he has in the quest to reach the very top. Still a novice at this level, at least compared with Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, he has proven he has a game to compete. Next week, he will be in the world’s top 20 and his attitude, resilience, upside and his willingness to listen and learn suggest that as he continues to grow physically and emotionally, he will be in this situation more often.
