The Life And Times of Jack Draper
The Life And Times of Jack Draper: British tennis prospect Jack Draper has recently had noteworthy wins on the ATP Tour, his first win coming against a highly-rated player in Alexander Bublik. The straight set victory over Bubliks was just one of many for Draper, who is becoming a strong British prospect.
Draper took up tennis as a child and has credited his competitive nature to the battles he had with his brother. He attributes much of his aggressive game-style to the early tennis games he played with his father Roger, who was LTA Chief Executive from 2006 to 2013.
A rising star on the ATP Tour, Oliver Draper has won four $25,000 ITF titles since turning pro in 2018. He has been a promising junior player since 2017, when he won three titles including an ITFs final at Wimbledon and reached the final of the US Open Boys’ Championships before losing to Nicholas Mejia in the semi-final. He achieved an ITF Junior Ranking of No.7 at the end of last year and is hoping to build on his recent success on tour.
In 2022, he became the youngest-ever Brit to win three ATP Challenger titles in only two months and rose into the top 150 for the first time in his career.
James Trotman is a coach that LTA provides coaching support to as part of its Pro Scholarship Programme, which his medical, coaching and financial support to best British players.
Family: Father Roger was an amateur tennis player who became the CEO of the LTA in 2006 to 2013.
Tennis was something that Jack’s mom coached in and brought him to the club for his first training session when he was 6 years old.
Draper began the season by winning his first ATP Challenger title in Forli, defeating fellow Brit Jay Clarke 6-3, 6-0 in the final.
He continued this strong start to the season with reaching the quarter-finals of the singles events at the Cherbourg Challenger in February as well as the semi-finals in doubles alongside Alexander Ritschard.
Drapare won his second Challenger tournament in 2022. Winning the matches, he finished with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Tim Van Rijthoven in the final.
After besting USA’s Alexander Ritschard 6-3, 7-6 in Forli, Draper became the youngest British player in history to win three ATP Challenger singles titles surpassing Andy Murray and Kyle Edmund. He also broke into the World’s top 150 for the first time ever in his career.
In the Miami Open in March, Draper showed potential as he defeated Gilles Simon 7-5, 6-1. Draper’s next opponent was world No. 12 Cameron Norrie, but he lost to him 7-6(5), 6-4.
In the season first quarter, Draper secured his fourth Challenger title in Saint Brieuc with a 6-2 victory over Frenchman Antoine Escoffier. For good measure, in the final, he also defeated Belgium’s Zizou Bergs 6-2 and 5-7 in what was a dominant performance.
In May, Draper earned his first success, defeating world No.28, Italian Lorenzo Sonego, 6-4, 6-3 to guarantee himself a spot in the second round of the Madrid open. Next up was Audrey Rublev, whose match with Draper went back and forth but ended 2-6, 6-4, 7-5.
In a win over Ryan Peniston, he sought to take the trophy at Wimbledon. In June, he lost to Taylor Fritz by default. He then went on to defeat Emil Ruusuvuori but was defeated in the second round.
Edison (Draper) reached his first ATP semi-final at the Rothesay International Eastbourne, defeating Jenson Brooksby before taking down fourth seed Diego Schwartzman with a 7-6(5), 6-7(2), 6-2 score. In the semi-final he lost to Maxime Cressy by a score of 7-6(5), 6-7(2), 6-2.
In July, Draper became the first female under 20 to make Wimbledon’s second round after defeating World No. 146, Zizou Berg, in a straight-sets masterclass. Despite taking the scoreboard lead early, Draper fell short of reaching the third round when she lost to Australia’s Alex de Minaur.