The big question standing between Jack Draper and a pivotal next step in 2025
The British No 1 had a breakthrough 2024 season but has already withdrawn from events in 2025 ahead of the start of the Australian Open this Sunday
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Your support makes all the difference.Rewind 12 months, and the overriding memory of Jack Draper’s time down under was not one for the squeamish. In the first round, the Brit defeated Marcos Giron in three hours and 20 minutes for his first five-set victory. But there was no time for rapturous celebration – and barely any time for a handshake at the net.
Draper quickly ran to a courtside bin to vomit, amid 30C temperatures in the Melbourne sun. Earlier in the match, his pulse and blood pressure were taken before he admirably recovered from a deficit on the scoreboard. It would not be his first conditioning issue of 2024: Draper was sick on the court during his US Open semi-final defeat to Jannik Sinner in September as well.
And heading into 2025, doubts over Draper’s health linger as he takes on Andy Murray’s mantle as the country’s leading men’s tennis player. That’s Andy Murray: Novak Djokovic’s new coach.
Draper, 23, withdrew from last week’s United Cup and has already confirmed he won’t participate in Great Britain’s Davis Cup tie in Japan at the end of the month. This time, a hip injury is the issue; an issue which forced him to cancel plans to train with four-time grand slam winner Carlos Alcaraz in the off-season.
Draper intends to take to the court as the Australian Open begins, and the British No 1 will open with a first-round match against Argentina’s Mariano Navona. However, ambitions of another deep hard-court run into the second week, where he could face Alcaraz in the fourth round, are somewhat open to question.
But, given the early injury scare, Draper looks as good as he could have reasonably expected. “It’s unbelievable. I remember when I was a kid coming to watch grand slams, coming to watch Novak and Andy play,” Draper said after a fascinating practice session on Wednesday opposite his idol and the 24-time grand slam champion.
And it is to Draper’s credit that he has already taken the decision to streamline his early season schedule. It is about managing his time on court within his own capabilities, and strengthening his hip, rather than risking further damage.
“At this stage of my career, what’s most important is that I can have a long career,” Draper said, in a pre-Christmas chat with journalists.
“There’s many young athletes who I’ve seen over the years, and I’ve heard stories about, who have these little niggles at a younger age. They don’t do much about it, they don’t explore it, and then it becomes a big problem when they get older.
“If they’d have managed that area better – like the hip, like a knee of an ankle – then it would have saved a lot of time off [for] a lot of different things. So that’s where I’m at right now.”
A case in point is close to home for Draper. Six years ago, British Davis Cup winner Kyle Edmund made his first significant mark in a major when he reached the semi-finals in Melbourne. But cruelly blighted by knee problems and surgeries soon after, the 29-year-old is now ranked 357 in the world and has not won a singles match on the ATP Tour for over two years.
Draper, currently the world No 15, does not want his body to go the same way but the Londoner is well aware that his health is currently his biggest obstacle as he looks to break into the top 10 in the coming months.
A breakthrough 2024 campaign saw Draper win two tour titles, in Stuttgart and Vienna, and enter the consciousness of the British public with a win over Alcaraz at Queen’s and that semi-final run at the US Open. His big-swinging lefty game, with a ferociously powerful serve and forehand, proved capable of stunning the best players on tour.
Should his hip, and body, hold up, a place in the top 10 is very attainable in the first half of 2025. Prior to that first tour title on the grass of Stuttgart last June, Draper had only reached one semi-final in Acapulco. After Melbourne, hard court Masters events in Indian Wells and Miami, as well as the clay court season, gives the British No 1 ample opportunity to improve his ranking.
A place in the top eight would bring an easier draw in grand slams; that should be his target for Wimbledon in the summer.
But for now, it’s all about the issues at hand: his hip, and finding his feet in Australia. We all now know the level Draper can produce should he get on a roll, with a wave of momentum behind him. Yet with long-term coach James Trotman by his side, his feet will remain firmly on the ground.
“That’s the thing in sports, sometimes you have these disappointments,” Draper said last month.
“You have these little challenges and little setbacks that come your way, and you have to think about how you are going to make the most of that. In my mind, I’m thinking that I always have to try and have a positive outlook on things.”
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