‘Resilient’ Jack Draper Convinced He Will ‘Reach Very Top of the Game’ Despite Injury Woes
Jack Draper will be playing his second match of the season at the Dubai Open.
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Jack Draper (Image via X/Bastien Fachan)
- Jack Draper will compete against Quentin Halys in the first round of the Dubai Tennis Championships after recovering from an arm injury.
- He aims to regain his top ranking, currently sitting at 15th, and believes he can reach the top of the game again.
- Draper aspires to win the Olympics and Wimbledon, citing the achievements of Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray as inspirations.
Jack Draper is set to lock horns with Quentin Halys in the first round of the Dubai Tennis Championships. It will be his first match since his Davis Cup win over Norway’s Viktor Durasovic earlier this month, but he ended up withdrawing from the Rotterdam Open.
Draper was forced to stay on the sidelines since winning his first-round match against Federico Agustin Gomez in last year’s US Open due to an arm injury. Last year, the Brit, on the back of his Indian Wells win and a runner-up finish at the Madrid Open, reached a career-best No.4 in rankings. Draper now sits in the 15th spot and said during his interview with the Khaleej Times that he is convinced of his abilities to reach the top spots once again.
Right now, I am obviously behind, you know, the start of last year, I was building my way up. I think obviously this injury has set me back a little bit, just in terms of the fact that I haven’t competed for a while, and at the same time, it has made me more resilient and made me learn a lot about my game.
At present, only two players are dominating on the tour: Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, as they’ve won the last nine Grand Slam titles. The top rank belongs to the Spaniard, while the four-time Major champion is ranked second.
So I think the next year and a half, two years, is going to be very interesting for me because I feel like I have a lot to improve, a lot to develop, and a lot of experience still to come, which maybe they have over me. But I have full belief in myself that I can reach the very top of the game.
Jack Draper added
That Indian Wells win over Holger Rune made Draper a Masters 1000 champion for the first time in his career. In Madrid, he lost the title to three-time Grand Slam finalist Casper Ruud.
Jack Draper is aiming to win the Olympics and Wimbledon
During that aforementioned interview with Khaleej Times, Jack Draper revealed the two tournaments he wants to win the most: the Olympics and Wimbledon. He cited the examples of Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, both of whom have won gold medals.
You saw what it meant to Djokovic. To win the Olympic gold the way he did was incredible. And what Andy did, winning two golds, is something very special. I think if you ask him, it was one of his biggest achievements. I think Wimbledon is obviously the tournament I want to win more than anything.
Jack Draper said
Three-time Grand Slam winner Murray, who hung up his racket at the 2024 Paris Olympics, clinched two gold medals in singles at the 2012 London Olympics and the 2016 Rio Olympics by defeating Roger Federer and Juan Martin del Potro, respectively. Djokovic beat Carlos Alcaraz at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Draper has so far made one Olympic appearance. At the 2024 Paris Games, Draper lost his singles match in the second round. Draper, who has so far won three singles titles, has never progressed beyond the second round at Wimbledon. Last year, Marin Cilic knocked him out in the second round.
Draper, in fact, has reached just one Grand Slam semifinal. He made the last four at the 2024 US Open, losing the match to eventual champion Jannik Sinner. Last year in Majors, apart from his second-round exit at SW19, Draper played the fourth rounds of the Australian Open and the French Open, while at the US Open, his campaign ended in the second round.
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