Tennis is a family affair.
Born in Sutton and raised in nearby Ashtead, Jack’s father, Roger, is the former chief executive of the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), his mother, Nicky, is a multiple-time junior British tennis champion, and his brother, Ben, played college tennis at the University of California-Berkeley and is now his agent. However, the main inspiration for taking up tennis was his grandmother, Brenda, who played county tennis for Oxfordshire and Dorset.
He’s risen quickly through the ranks.
Draper was a strong junior player, peaking at No 7 in the ITF junior world rankings after his runner-up finish at the 2018 Wimbledon junior singles event. He came onto the scene in 2021 and was soon making headlines, beating the likes of now world No. 1 Jannick Sinner at Queen’s in 2021, before ascending 223 places in the world rankings in 2022, ending the year inside the top 50. After an injury-hit 2023 that saw him drop out of the top 100, Draper heads into Wimbledon this year ranked 31 in the world.
His biggest weapon is his serve.
Standing at six foot four, his height has supplied Draper with a fearsome left-hand serve that has been recorded at 138 mph, leaving many of his opponents unable to get a foothold in the match. His forehand has only become more formidable as he’s developed, and with an improved backhand, he’s starting to get results against the best.
He won his first ATP tour event in June 2024.
Facing Italian Matteo Berrettini in the final of the Boss Open in Stuttgart, Draper clinched his first title on tour, coming back from a set down to win 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4. The victory made him the first ever British winner in Boss Open history, and was the result that helped him officially rise to the British No.1 spot for the first time in his career. Draper had reached two ATP Tour finals prior to his success in Stuttgart, losing a close encounter to Adrian Mannarino in Sofia in November 2023 and to Jiri Lehecka in three sets in Adelaide at the start of this year.
He's beaten the best in the world.
A win against Sinner early in his career was the sign of things to come, and in recent years he’s shown he can compete against the world’s best players; during his run at the 2022 Canadian Masters in Montreal he scored what was then the biggest win of his career over world No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas; in 2023 he beat current world No. 8 Caspar Ruud in the semi-final of the 2023 UTS Grand Final; and in 2024, within a week of his win in Stuttgart, Draper headed to Queen’s and earned a earned a 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 victory over defending champion and current Wimbledon and French Open holder Carlos Alcaraz in the second round.
He is the youngest British No. 1 since Andy Murray.
Aged 22, he is the youngest to achieve the feat since Murray first rose to the top seed in 2009. The last few weeks may have seen the official changing of the guard, but it has been coming for some time – back at Indian Wells 2023, Draper faced Murray and won in convincing fashion in straight sets, a signal of the changing of the guard.
He's come close at Wimbledon before.
In his youth days at least – in 2018, he reached the Junior Wimbledon finals, but lost in three sets to Taiwan’s Tseng Chun-hsin, just missing out on being the first Briton to claim the title in 56 years. Since turning professional, Draper has had less success. His first foray in 2021 saw him lose in the first round, but that loss did come against Novak Djokovic, a match in which the Brit impressed by winning the first set 6-4 before losing the next three sets 6-1, 6-2, 6-2. In 2022, he made the second round but lost to Alex de Minaur. In 2023, he missed the whole grass court season with a shoulder injury.
