Former British No.1 Certain That Jack Draper Will Be a Better Player in 12 Months After Wimbledon Disappointment

Jack Draper has not gotten beyond the second round of the Wimbledon Championships in his career.

Former British No.1 Certain That Jack Draper Will Be a Better Player in 12 Months After Wimbledon Disappointment

Jack Draper (image via Wimbledon)

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Jack Draper has been one of the most outstanding players of the current generation but suffered a disappointing exit at the Wimbledon Championships. The British star was seen as the local hero of the tournament but he managed to win just one match. Former tennis player Tim Henman believes the 23-year-old can be better in a year from now.

Draper enjoyed a good run on hard and clay courts this season. First, he reached the final of the Qatar Open before losing to Andrey Rublev. He then claimed his first Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells after beating Holger Rune in straight sets. The former World No.4 then reached his maiden clay-court final at the Madrid Open.

Ahead of Wimbledon, there were high expectations for Draper to perform to his best at the tournament. He was even considered among the favorites to win the tournament considering the home crowd advantage. He breezed past the first round after Sebastian Baez retired in the third set due to an injury.

Against Marin Cilic in the second round, the World No.5 was two sets down before showing some fighting spirit and winning the third set. But that wasn’t enough as the former finalist came back right away in the fourth set, winning 6-4, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4. Cilic went on to reach the fourth round before losing to Flavio Cobolli.

In a recent interview with Sky Sports, Tim Henman stated that Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have dominated the men’s circuit for the past one and a half years. He then added that for Draper to reach their level, he has a lot of learning to do:

Jack has made unbelievable strides this year and has been top five in the world. There are only three weeks between the French Open and Wimbledon and then Wimbledon itself. But he’s got a great team around him. He would have taken many learnings away from the Championships this year and I’m sure in 12 months he’ll be a better player and better prepared.

Draper has been dubbed to take over from where Andy Murray left off, but he’s yet to get past even the second round of the Wimbledon Championships. He’s also yet to reach a Grand Slam final and has struggled against Sinner and Alcaraz in major events. He lost to Sinner in the semi-finals of the 2024 US Open and to Alcaraz in the fourth round of the 2025 Australian Open.

Tim Henman points out Jack Draper’s problems after Wimbledon poor run

Jack Draper has done excellently physically to enjoy an injury-free season. The 23-year-old has always had issues with injuries in the past but since June last year, he has remained quite fit. That led him also to feature in four clay tournaments, reaching the round of 16 in three of them.

Jack Draper
Jack Draper (Image via X/Barstool Tennis)

During the interview above, Tim Henman revealed that Draper had a step in his learning curve after his poor run at the Wimbledon Championship:

He didn’t have the best Wimbledon, but I think that’s a steep learning curve to be playing at home. He’s played so well on clay and hard courts and I think he needs to adapt his game a little bit on grass. And the reality is, you don’t get long to play on grass.

Draper’s early exit at the All England Club dropped him to No.5 in the ATP rankings after he entered the tournament as the fourth seed. The British star has had more success on the hard courts and will now hope to challenge for more titles in the North American hard-court swing, where he will feature at the Canadian, Cincinnati, and US Open.

Also Read: Emma Navarro ‘Harshly Criticizes’ Her US Open Mixed Doubles Partner Jannik Sinner After His Wimbledon Win