Draper faces De Minaur for revenge, US Open semi-final in sight

A Days after claiming his first career Grand Slam victory at Wimbledon in 2022, 20-year-old Jack Draper was given a rare chance to test his mettle against one of the sport’s rising stars in a best-of-five set.

The first returns from his second round fight on court n°1 against Alex de Minaur were encouraging. Despite the 67 places in the ranking and the three years that separated them, they faced each other on equal terms and were tied after two tight and exciting sets.

The intensity of their rallies, however, took its toll on the young challenger, and Draper spent the rest of the match winded and bent, collapsing in the final two sets. Between his undeniable raw talent and the physical issues that ultimately hampered him, the match was a perfect reflection of Draper’s early development.

The two men will meet Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the US Open, perhaps the most important match of their careers. In a draw that has produced numerous upsets and early eliminations, with third seed Carlos Alcaraz losing early in the group, there is no top player to conquer en route to the semifinals. This is a huge opportunity for both players.

Although De Minaur has adopted a more attacking style of play, taking the ball earlier and beefing up his forehand to assert himself against the top players, he will still aim to prolong rallies, wear down Draper and test all the physical issues the young Briton has struggled with on several occasions since emerging.

After so many injuries and absences, it has taken a lot of work for Draper to become an athlete capable of competing with the best. He must now show how far he has come, especially against an opponent who has won all three of his matches.

Despite reaching his first Grand Slam quarter-final without dropping a set, Draper has repeatedly described his run as odd. He is not happy with his 53% first serve average, but he has been incredibly decisive, saving 20 of 21 break points and losing serve once, repeatedly preventing his opponents from gaining momentum.

Against a player and receiver like De Minaur, he will clearly need to place more first serves and maintain the aggression with his forehand. Draper showed how well-rounded his game is, mixing neat forays to the net with serve-and-volley attempts. He will need it to unbalance De Minaur and break his defenses.

Draper is an incredibly ambitious player who firmly believes he can become a top player and spend the majority of his career competing for the biggest titles. But it took him time to gain that deep confidence.

Alex de Minaur won all three of his matches against Jack Draper. Photograph: Eduardo Muñoz/AP

Before the quarter-finals, he spoke about a career that included two periods when he seriously considered quitting. The first came when he was starting out at the lowest echelons of the professional circuit.

“When you’re younger you have all these big dreams of winning Wimbledon and all those types of things,” he said. “Then you come out of the juniors and you get into running, you do the 15k, the challengers.

ignore newsletter promotion

“It’s crazy. You have to go to all these tough places to play and beat men. And it’s really tough. It’s not the strawberries and cream Wimbledon I was expecting.

“It was a real long-term work over a few years, to get an idea of the nature of the tennis world and the efforts I would have to make to become a top player, as well as the travel and sacrifices that this involved.”

After deciding to fight and begin his climb, Draper’s doubts once again overwhelmed him in 2022, at the height of his various physical problems. He had almost lost all confidence in his body and its ability to withstand the rigors of being a professional.

“With all my injuries and the tough times I was going through, I was wondering if I was going to be good enough to remain the best player I wanted to be, because I didn’t want to be a player who wasn’t a top player.”

All these struggles have only strengthened his resolve and these moments, fighting in the biggest stadiums in the heart of a Grand Slam tournament, are precisely what he has worked for.

It will be fascinating to see if he is actually willing to seize this opportunity and go even further.