THE RISE OF JACK DRAPER

Jack Draper falls to his knees after winning his first Masters 1000 title. (Getty/Matthew Stockman)

Jack Draper will debut in the ATP top-five next week, and the best thing? He’s only just getting started.

Draper has enjoyed the best start to a season of his young career by winning his first Masters 1000 title in Indian Wells a few months ago.

The talented Brit just fell short of a second in Madrid on clay.

Watching him develop his craft over the past few months, he has all the ingredients to become a major champion and world No.1.

Draper comes from a family of strong tennis pedigree. His mum, Nikki, was a former top junior player, back home in Britain, and his brother played at a college level in the USA.

He has the temperament, the shots and the size to do damage on any surface. You just need to take a look at his booming serve on grass and that heavy topspin forehand on clay.

This year, however, it’s been Draper’s mental strength that has escalated his game to the next level, helping him challenge the world's elite.

Take his run at the 2025 Australian Open as an example. Draper won five-set matches on three occasions (all of which were consecutive).

He also came from a set down to beat both Matteo Berrettini and Jiří Lehečka in Doha.

In the early stages of 2024, Draper would lose close matches like those more often than not.

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But although he didn’t win either of those two tournaments, it was evident that a title was only weeks away due to a change in mentality, and perhaps some luck, in relation to injuries.

The moment finally came for the 23-year-old in California a few months ago.

Since he’s now achieved that goal of winning a big title, he will no doubt set his sights on reaching the top-three in the ATP rankings, and/or even perhaps fighting for a major.

He’ll be a contender at Roland Garros on the clay in a few weeks, that’s for sure.

But with Wimbledon also fast approaching, and all the crowd support that will come with being a local hero, Draper reaching the semi-finals, at the very least, is a very realistic goal.

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