Over the past year, as the tennis world whirled and rotated around him, Jack Draper has spent too long on the outside, looking in. “I just had to stay away from it,” the 24-year-old said. “It would wind me up to watch tennis because I wanted to be out there.”
He had been ranked fourth in the world, and arrived at Wimbledon lifted by winning the biggest title of his career at Indian Wells and reaching the final of the Madrid Open. Draper wasn’t quite on top of the world but he was “feeling incredible”, unlocking new parts of his powerful game to push himself even higher. The next step for the Briton was to take the challenge to Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner at the grand slams.
But then Draper “just broke down”. From his second-round defeat to Marin Čilić at Wimbledon last year to the return of the following grass-court season, Draper was “stopped in his tracks” and played just nine matches. The lengthy lay-off was due to a painful bone bruising injury on his racket arm and then, a few months ago, a knee injury caused in part by a new serving motion. He tumbled down the rankings and when the slide stopped, he bottomed out at No 160.
open image in galleryDraper, ever honest and transparent, has made no attempt to disguise just how difficult the past year has been. “My confidence levels were below the floor,” he said recently. “It’s like you’re watching your decline,” he admitted, starkly. “It’s been really difficult to accept. I have to start again.”
Draper, though, does not return to Wimbledon alone. His latest comeback has come with a legend in his corner, a two-time Wimbledon champion and the man who is one of Draper’s “biggest inspirations”. Apart from golf and dropping the kids up off at school, Andy Murray did not have too many other commitments to decline Draper when he picked up the phone and asked him to be his coach for Wimbledon. “I wanted to help him when he asked if I could,” Murray said.
Their relationship has grown and Draper has matured since their infamous car journey from Manchester to London following a Davis Cup victory three years ago, when a 21-year-old Draper bellowed the Proclaimers into his ear while chugging a beer as Murray looked unimpressed from the driver’s seat. “Kids these days,” was Murray’s reply, with his typical humour. But it was clear even then that Murray took a shine to him.
Murray, 39, is now approaching the end of his second year of retirement; unlike Serena Williams, he has shown no indication that he ever wants to return, either. But while a brief coaching stint with Novak Djokovic did not produce the results the 24-time grand slam champion was looking for, it also didn’t put Murray off from offering guidance to another player if it happened to be the right fit.
And while Murray will not commit to travelling on tour and being away from home for extended spells, his presence in Draper’s box has come at the perfect time. It is proof that despite his past year, despite starting again and despite losing all confidence in his body, there is someone who believes in him, For Draper, having that person also be one of your biggest inspirations has been invaluable.
“I think him just being here, being in the presence of myself, not just now, but the last few weeks, has really helped my confidence,” Draper said. “It’s not been an easy time at all. Him being around to sort of help guide me through this period, get me back to being on court, get me back to competing, has been very, very special.”
open image in galleryThere were some good signs at Eastbourne last week as Draper won four matches in a row to reach the semi-finals on his return. Murray was vocal in Draper’s box, barking encouragement. Murray is assisting James Trotman, who stepped away from coaching Draper full-time last year but returned to support the former world No 4 at Wimbledon. On the practice court, Murray takes something of a back seat, observing from the baseline with his arms crossed. But Draper said Murray’s tennis knowledge remains “incredible”, and he does not hesitate to offer words of advice.
“I still say I’m far from perfect,” Draper said on his recovery. “I’m getting there. It’s been an incredibly long process. It’s taken a lot out of me mentally coming back and coming back and coming back. At the same time I feel like I’m in a position now where I can compete at a really high level and really compete with the best players.”
All of which makes Draper’s opening draw against sixth seed Taylor Fritz even more of a nightmare. “It obviously incredibly difficult,” Draper said. “There’s not many tougher draws you can get.” The scale of Draper’s fall from last year’s Wimbledon is that he entered the tournament seeded above Fritz, who was fifth, which would have made a match between them at least a quarter-final.
Now it is taking place in the first round. But can may make Murray’s role become even more important.