Five-time Grand Slam winner makes bold Jack Draper prediction after Carlos Alcaraz upset
Jack Draper has been backed to win Wimbledon by five-time Grand Slam winner Rennae Stubbs.
The 23-year-old has followed up his breakthrough 2024 season during which he reached the semi-final of a major and won his maiden title with a run to the final of the 2025 Indian Wells Open.
Draper won his first title at the ATP 250 Stuttgart Open last June and then in September he reached the US Open semi-final – losing to eventual winner Jannik Sinner – before he won the ATP 500 Vienna Open the following month.
He cracked the top 15 for the first time after his title run in Vienna and now he is set to climb into the top 10 on the back of his exploits in California as he sits at No 8 in the Live Rankings.
Draper defeated the big-serving American duo of Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton in the fourth round and quarter-final, respectively, before ending Carlos Alcaraz’s 16-match winning streak with a 6-1, 0-6, 6-4 win in the last four.
He will face Holger Rune in his maiden ATP Masters 1000 final and victory over the Dane will see him jump to No 7.
Draper’s game has come on leaps and bounds in recent months as he appears to be over his major injury concerns while mentally he has also gone to another level, as he proved against Alcaraz in the semi-final.
That win over Alcaraz has prompted former doubles world No 1 Stubbs – who coached the great Serena Williams during the latter stages of her career – to make a daring Grand Slam prediction involving Draper.
“Jack Draper is going to win Wimbledon!” the American, who won four women’s doubles majors and one mixed doubles Grand Slam, wrote on X before adding: “Got to make the call early ”
It is indeed an early call as Draper is yet to make it past the second round at Wimbledon as he lost at that stage in 2022 and 2024.
On the flip side, he has only made three Wimbledon main draw appearances as he missed the 2023 edition due to injury.
Draper’s booming serve is no doubt his biggest weapon and it will be key to his success on the grass courts of the All England Club.
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The fact that he also finally feels like he “belongs” is also key to any future success.
“I think at the back end of last year, after I won my first title in Stuttgart, I started to feel more confident in myself. I think a big part of being a young player is feeling like you belong,” he said.
“Obviously you go in the changing rooms and you’re seeing all the players you have watched on TV and all the players you admire. You know, you kind of feel like, am I good enough to be here?
“So winning a couple of titles last year and making the semis of the US, that really helped me to, you know, believe that I could be right up there at the top of the game as well, and making top 20 at the end of last year.
“Then carrying on into this year, building confidence in Melbourne in my body, winning those five-setters, making a final in Doha, I feel like the consistency of what I’m trying to do on the tennis court is improving all the time at the highest level. That’s given me so much confidence.
“I’d say it’s just kind of experience at the highest level against the top players and the confidence I’m getting from that, which has helped me to get to this point.”
