When Jack Draper prepared for his first ever Grand Slam semifinal at the US Open, he knew he was likely to endure some of the most stressful, intense moments he’d ever experienced on a tennis court. He probably didn’t expect to be cleaning up his own vomit on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court – more than once – but perhaps that’s the kind of spirit it takes to reach a first major final. If he didn’t quite make it in the end, thanks to the pride and quality of the world’s top-ranked player Jannik Sinner, it wasn’t for lack of trying.
Whatever he achieves in the rest of his career, no one can ever accuse him of not giving it his all. To say that Draper gave everything, absolutely everything on the pitch in his bid to reach the final is almost an understatement. By the time the match was over, after just over three hours of brutal, intense and at times remarkably unhygienic drama, Draper was exhausted and could barely walk. And yet he also showed that he has the game to match the best in the world, on the biggest stages.
When Draper added former top-10 player Wayne Ferreira to his coaching team in May, the first thing the South African did was convince him to play more like a 6-foot-3 player would; serve bigger, be more aggressive and attack his opponents. In his early years on Tour, Draper trusted his toughness and relied on himself to defend well enough to win. That had to change, Ferreira said, if he wanted to climb the rankings.
It was a thought process that the left-handed Draper carried with him, even though he and Ferreira parted ways just before the US Open. But such a big change is always difficult and while he has become much more aggressive, it doesn’t always go well. Against Sinner he created big chances by hitting hard, especially with his forehand, but when the opportunity came he couldn’t quite take it.
Draper knows that this is one of the great differences between the very best in the game and those who, like him, are trying to catch up. Sinner did not play his absolute best consistent game throughout the match, partly because Draper did not let him, but when he needed to step up, as he did in the second-set tiebreak, the Italian simply did so. At this level, confidence can be half the battle, and having won the Australian Open earlier this year for his first Slam title and risen to No. 1 shortly afterwards, Sinner is the man to beat.
Draper’s mother, Nicky, and his father, Roger, the former LTA leader, had flown in to watch their son play Sinner. Their pride was evident as their son matched the world’s best player for a long time, holding on under increasing pressure, delivering big serves and increasingly hard hitting, even as he struggled to keep down the fluids he was consuming in abundance to combat the dampness.
After cleaning up his own sweat stains on the court – as Sinner had done for him on occasion – when he had to clean up his own vomit, he must have had a flashback to this year’s Australian Open, when he threw up in a courtside trash can after a three-hour-and-20-minute battle with Marcos Giron. Stress manifests itself in different ways for different players; perhaps Draper’s toughest fight yet.
He certainly looked out of sorts at the start of the third set, his eyes wild as he tried to contemplate winning three sets in this state. But once again his resilience shone through and if it was a bridge too far, he did himself a huge compliment by fighting through and forcing Sinner to finish the job.
Draper’s stunning run to a first major semi-final without dropping a set had led some to start citing Emma Raducanu’s incredible triumph in New York in 2021, a year in which she won through qualifying and then seven more matches, all without dropping a set, to claim the title. Raducanu, however, did not have to play Sinner.
Ultimately, Draper showed that he will give it his all in his quest to reach the top. He is still a novice at this level, at least compared to the likes of Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, but he has shown that he has a game to compete. Next week he will be in the world’s top 20 and his attitude, resilience, upside and willingness to listen and learn suggest that as he continues to grow physically and emotionally, he will find himself in this situation more often.
