Patrick Mouratoglou Lists What Jack Draper Must Do to Compete With Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz

Patrick Mouratoglou has shared what Jack Draper needs to add to his game to compete at the level of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz on tour. The former coach of Naomi Osaka believes there’s a huge gap between Sinner-Alcaraz and the rest of the players on tour.

Draper began the season in red-hot form winning his first ATP Masters 1000 title in Indian Wells. He defeated Alcaraz en route to the final in California. He reached his third final of the season at the Madrid Open but failed to win the title after losing to Casper Ruud in three sets. He has not competed on tour since the US Open.

He played just one match before withdrawing from the New York Grand Slam, calling time on his season as he nurses an arm injury. The former World No.4 has agreed to make a comeback to the court before the end of the year after agreeing to compete in the UTS Grand Final in December.

However, for most of the periods Draper competed on tour he challenged Alcaraz and Sinner, but ultimately couldn’t beat them in major tournaments. Draper only defeated Alcaraz in the 2025 Indian Wells and 2024 Queen’s Club Championships, but has lost four times against the Spaniard.

Also, Alcaraz and Sinner have dominated the men’s circuit in the past two seasons, winning all the past eight Grand Slams. During an interview with Sky Sports, Mouratoglou revealed that there are a couple of things Draper must add to his game for him to be able to compete with Sinner and Alcaraz:

There are a couple of important things. Firstly, the margin of progress between his level and the level of the top 10 and the level of Alcaraz and Sinner. There is a big gap and they have to close that gap, so the margin of progression is very important to have if you want to be able to compete with them in the future. Secondly, you need to have a balanced game. If you have a weakness, they will use it because they’re too complete, so you have to be complete as well.

Draper holds a 1-1 head-to-head record against Sinner. The last time they met on the court was at the 2024 US Open, where the British No.1 reached the semi-finals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in his career. Draper lost the tie in straight sets in New York.

Former Serena Williams coach hopes Jack Draper will stay injury-free in the future

Jack Draper had his breakout year in 2025, reaching a career-high ranking of World No.4 and winning his maiden WTA 1000 title at Indian Wells. However, he has struggled with injuries on tour. After enjoying an almost injury-free 2024 season, he was diagnosed with bone bruising after his loss to Marin Cilic in the second round of the Wimbledon Championships.

Even though he made his return to action at the US Open, he only managed to play one match before withdrawing. In the aforementioned interview, Patrick Mouratoglou admitted that it is quite sad that Draper was not able to compete in many tournaments this season and hopes he has an injury-free season next year:

I think Jack was trying to have the best possible schedule and not play too much. He’s been injured in the past quite a lot and it’s a key for his future to stay injury free. He probably didn’t want to play too much and add some extra events so it’s sad that he didn’t play…

Draper reached his first final of the season at the Qatar Open but failed to win the title after losing to Andrey Rublev. It was his first tournament following his fourth-round run at the Australian Open. Since then, he has not consistently competed on tour and he’s expected to return from injury in December 2025 ahead of the 2026 season.

Also Read: Casper Ruud Slams ‘Shameless’ Bettors Over Abusive Messages Following Defeats

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Join our newsletter to receive exclusive updates and curated insights directly to your inbox.

Subscribe NOW