Mats Wilander Says the Media Attention on Jack Draper Will Be “His Biggest Enemy” at Wimbledon

Jack Draper is among the favorites to win Wimbledon after Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, and Novak Djokovic.

Mats Wilander Says the Media Attention on Jack Draper Will Be “His Biggest Enemy” at Wimbledon

Jack Draper and Mats Wilander (X/LTA/We love Tennis)

Jack Draper has had an impressive start to the season, which has seen him climb to a career-high of World No.4 in the ATP, a position that means he will carry the hopes of Britain at the Wimbledon Championship. However, tennis legend Mats Wilander believes that the media attention on the 23-year-old is his biggest enemy at the tournament.

Draper has to contend with Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, and Novak Djokovic for the Wimbledon Championship. The three aforementioned players have already won Grand Slams in their careers and are among the favorites to win the title. Also, they have shown more consistency in Grand Slam tournaments than the British star.

However, given Draper’s quick ascension through the rankings this season, the spotlight is going to be on the World No.4 like never before at his home Grand Slam. British fans are expected to back him in every match and if he does make a strong run through the men’s singles draw, the media attention will only grow.

But currently, there are already talks and arguments about how far the 23-year-old will go at Wimbledon. Despite never going past the second round of the Grand Slam tournament, he has been hailed by the local media for his recent performances on the court. One major discussion has been that he has beaten almost all his last year’s records this season.

Nonetheless, Mats Wilander is worried that the attention will get to Draper and will become an additional pressure when Wimbledon kicks off on Monday (June 30). He added during a conversation on TNT Sports that the media attention will be his biggest enemy at the tournament:

I think that for Jack Draper, the social media and newspapers are going to be the biggest enemy, I think, because there’s going to be a lot of stories, good ones, most probably mostly. And people are going to start trying to dig things up about Jack Draper, Jack Draper this, and Jack Draper that. So I think that’s what you have to stay away from.

Draper has only competed at Wimbledon three times in his career, two of which he reached the second round. He will be hoping to beat his previous records at the tournament, when he takes on Sebastian Baez in the first round. Also, he’s projected to face the Terra Wortmann Open champion Alexander Bublik in the third round.

Tennis legend says Jack Draper would have been a serious contender for Wimbledon if he had won Queen’s

Jack Draper opened his grass-court campaign at the Queen’s Club Championships. There, he won only three matches before suffering a three-set loss against Jiri Lehecka in the semi-finals of the ATP 500 tournament. However, that was his best run at Queen’s as he has always failed to reach the last four.

Jack Draper Wimbledon 2025
Jack Draper (image via Wimbledon)

During the aforementioned conversation, Mats Wilander revealed that if Draper had won the Queen’s title, he would have been a serious contender at the Wimbledon Championship:

Well, I think the preparation for Jack Draper would have been even more perfect if he wins it, to be honest. I think the confidence that you get from winning Queen’s, that has been shown over the years, and it was shown more dramatically than ever when Boris Becker in 1985 won Queen’s, and then he went on to win Wimbledon.

Draper lifted his first Masters 1000 title in March at Indian Wells. He then went on to reach the Madrid Open final and the fourth round of the Roland Garros.

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