Jack Draper joins short list of British men to reach grand slam semi-finals

A look at the seven previous British men to reach the last four of one of tennis’ major events.

Andy Sims
Thursday 05 September 2024 12:40 BST
Andy Murray, Roger Taylor and Greg Rusedski (PA)
Andy Murray, Roger Taylor and Greg Rusedski (PA)

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Jack Draper is only the eighth British man to reach the semi-finals at a grand slam event in the Open era.

The 22-year-old has made the last four at the US Open following his win over Australian 10th seed Alex De Minaur.

Here, the PA news agency looks at Britain’s other male semi-finalists at the majors.

Cameron Norrie

Norrie-fever briefly swept across Wimbledon in 2022 when the man born in South Africa to a Scottish father and Welsh mother beat David Goffin in five sets in the quarter-final.

SW19 chiefs even took the decision to screen the semi-final, against Novak Djokovic, on Court Two.

Norrie won the first set but bowed out to the eventual champion 2-6 6-3 6-2 6-4.

Kyle Edmund

The peak of Edmund’s career arrived at the Australian Open in 2018 with a four-set victory over Grigor Dimitrov putting him through to a semi-final against Croatia’s Marin Cilic, who had just knocked out Rafael Nadal.

Edmund was beaten in three sets but would reach a career-high world ranking of 14 that year before a knee injury began to take its toll.

Andy Murray

Murray, who retired after this year’s Olympics, reached 21 grand slam semi-finals, winning 11 of them and going on to lift two Wimbledon trophies and one at the US Open.

His final appearance in the last four at a major came at the French Open in 2017 when, as world number one, he was beaten in five brutal sets by Stan Wawrinka.

Both players exacerbated injuries which all but ended their careers at the very top of the sport.

Tim Henman

Henman was the nearly man of British tennis who made the Wimbledon semi-finals four times, the most agonising of which was a rain-affected defeat over two days in 2001 by Goran Ivanisevic, in which he had led two sets to one.

Henman also lost to Pete Sampras, twice, and Lleyton Hewitt – all eventual champions – at the All England Club. 

In 2004 Henman lost to Guillermo Coria in the Roland Garros semi-finals, and to a 23-year-old Roger Federer in the last four at Flushing Meadows.

Greg Rusedski

British tennis had been something of a longstanding joke until Canadian-born big-server Rusedski reached the US Open final in 1997.

The unseeded 25-year-old, who nearly pulled out of the tournament following the death of Princess Diana, beat former Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek in the last eight and Jonas Bjorkman in the semi-final.

Wearing a black ribbon as a mark of respect, Rusedski lost the final in four sets to Australian Patrick Rafter.

John Lloyd

At the Australian Open in December 1977, Lloyd became the first British man in the open era to reach a grand slam singles final, beating Australian qualifier Bob Giltinan in the last four.

He lost the final in five sets to America’s Vitas Gerulaitis.

But British hopes weighed heavily on Lloyd, who never made it past the third round at Wimbledon.

Roger Taylor

The man who could have ended Britain’s wait for a male Wimbledon champion 40 years before Murray, Taylor reached the semi-finals three times, twice in the Open era.

In 1970 he was beaten by Ken Rosewall and in 1973, the year most of the top players boycotted the Championships, he lost to eventual champion Jan Kodes.

Taylor also reached the last four at the Australian Open in 1970, losing 8-6 in the fifth set to Aussie Dick Crealy.

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