Andy Murray on Jack Draper ahead of their Indian Wells match – ‘He’s going to be a top, top player’

ATP Tour

Shahida Jacobs
March 13, 2023

Andy Murray and Jack Draper will battle in a generational clash at the Indian Wells Open on Monday and the former believes fellow Brit Draper has a great future ahead of him, if he stays healthy.

At the age of 35, Murray is in the twilight of his career and he has been there, done that and got several T-shirts along the way – some of those t-shirts include three Grand Slam titles and the world No 1 ranking, to name just a few things.

Murray, of course, carried the British flag for more than two decades, but the likes of Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans have in recent years also shone on the ATP Tour, but never quite reached the two-time Wimbledon winner’s heights.

Draper, meanwhile, is at the start of his career as he turned 21 in December and many tennis pundits believe he has the potential to go far in the men’s game.

Murray and Draper will meet for the first time in top-level tennis when they square off in the third round of the ATP Masters 1000 event in California.

They have previously faced each other in the exhibition Battle of the Brits: Scotland vs England in December with Murray winning 6-2, 1-6, 12-10 on the super tie-breaker.

Murray though expects big things from the rising star.

“It will be a good match. I mean, he obviously plays really well. You know, and he’s not actually competed that much on the tour, but when he has done, he’s always performed really well,” he said. “You know, I think he’s going to be a top, top player for a long time, providing he stays healthy.

“Yeah, it will be a good match.”

Draper reached the third round with two-set wins over qualifier Lars Riedi and fellow Brit Dan Evans while Murray took three hours to beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry in three sets before following it up with a two-set win over Radu Albot.

The story so far for Jack Draper

Murray has notched up several wins big wins over the course of his career, but Draper has also managed to beat some big-name players in his short career so far.

He defeated Jannik Sinner at Queen’s Club in 2021 while last year he claimed wins over the likes of Diego Schwartzman, Stefanos Tsitispas and Felix Auger-Aliassime.

He also reached the third round of the US Open and the quarter-final of the Canadian Open, finishing the year with a 17–12 record.

Having started 2022 outside the 260 in the ATP Rankings, he finished the year at No 42 although he has slipped back to No 56 – just one place below Murray.

Andy Murray Jack Draper