Jack Draper’s rankings rise will ignite a menacing juggernaut at Wimbledon
British tennis players face a challenge that is unrivalled in world tennis when Wimbledon rolls around each year and that juggernaut is about to rush towards Jack Draper.
Draper made a huge leap in the tennis world as he lifted his first ATP Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells last month, with his rise into the top 10 of the rankings for the first time a fitting reward for that achievement.
Yet tennis in his British homeland tends to be a sport that only captures the wider public’s attention when Wimbledon gets underway and that is when Draper will feel the full impact of his breakthrough in tennis.
There is a big chance Draper could be one of the top four seeds at Wimbledon if he continues his run at the Madrid Open, wins more matches at the Rome Masters and then makes a mark at the French Open.
Draper has just 70 ATP Ranking points to defend from 2024 and he can compete for 4,000 during the clay court season, with the opportunity he has in front of him.
More Tennis News
Jannik Sinner ‘hate’ over drug ban is not justified claims top 10 rival in outspoken comments
Patrick Mouratoglou reveals who has ‘greatest potential’ out of Fonseca, Draper, Fils & Mensik
Yet if Draper achieves his targets over the next few weeks, the hype machine that is at a different level in the English media will be given even more fuel than they have already got.
Draper has been a rising star in tennis for some time, but this is the first British summer when he will be THE star.
Tim Henman lived through this experience and then Andy Murray took it to the next level as he won two Wimbledon titles, with Draper now set to be thrown into the fire they had to learn to deal with.
A familiar format will be followed with Draper in the British summer of 2025.
He can be expected to be third on Centre Court at Wimbledon for all of his matches this summer, with that slot designed to capture the biggest TV audiences in the UK as it will grab viewers who get home after being at work all day.
The domestic newspapers and rolling news channels will hype up Draper as Britain’s next Wimbledon champion and as former world No 1 Andy Roddick suggests, the attention will be relentless.
“Murray mania all the time. To give you a sense of how nuts it is there, I made the semis in 2009,” said Roddick on his Served podcast.
“You go to Aorangi Park [Wimbledon practice courts] or wherever to hit and his practice court is surrounded. You cannot get a 40-minute hit in without some picture being taken.
“He has an energy bar and it’s like what is this? They actually treat this as news. It’s absurd.
“I woke up in 2009 and at this point, I had won Queen’s four times and I was the second-best player in the world on grass for a moment in time.
“I had made the finals of Wimbledon twice, the semis again. It wasn’t like I was a dud. I find myself in the semis, beat Hewitt in five in the quarters and I wake up to a preview of the final – Murray vs Federer. And so I am seeing that and thinking this is ridiculous, I can only imagine what Murray’s life looked like for a moment in time.
“I always equate it to the Red Sox not having won since whenever, the Cubs not having won, there were 10’s of millions of people – and if I am hyperbolic saying 100 million people, it’s not by much. Around the UK, they had screening parties. Imagine when a team wins a game at the World Cup, that was when Murray won. In an individual sport, one person.
“I am sure some of that is probably mitigated by Murray’s successes [for Draper], you are not trying to break Fred Perry’s record from the 1920s,” he added. “So him having done it probably softens the first time thing a little bit, but it is mania.”
Draper has grown into his role as a leading star in tennis after initially struggling to display his emotions on court and in interviews, but he will face a whole new challenge this summer and it will test him to the full.
There is no doubt that this big-serving star who has beaten Carlos Alcaraz twice in the last year will be a contender to win his first Wimbledon title this summer, but he will need to deal with more pressure than anyone else in the draw if he is to achieve that dream.
READ NEXT: Novak Djokovic faces rankings slide as two players could overtake him this week
