Deliveroo dinners and the violent crime series Gangs of London on his laptop: that’s Jack Draper’s formula for success as he chases his first appearance in a major quarter-final.
The 22-year-old from Surrey is enjoying a potentially career-making run in New York. His first three rounds delivered straight-sets wins, as he looks to seize the British tennis baton in the absence of the newly-retired Andy Murray.
Now, with the Czech Republic’s Tomas Machac to come on Monday, Draper says he will be sticking with the same habits – an almost monastic routine of takeaways and early nights – that has carried him to this point.
“My first year on tour, you’re obviously going to all these amazing cities,” said Draper, after Saturday’s win over Botic van de Zandschulp. “I was definitely a bit more excitable. I was having a walk in Central Park. I was going out for a coffee, I wanted to see a lot of things. Whereas now it’s more important for me to go back and just maybe have a Deliveroo in my hotel. I’m making a cup of tea in the room and watching a series, something that takes me away from the tennis world.”
Funny how lifestyles change. Forty years ago, John McEnroe and Vitas Gerulaitis would be beating their US Open opponents in the afternoon and partying at notorious New York nightspot Studio 54 in the evening.
But that was an era of wooden rackets, grass courts, and 90-minute matches. Modern players need to be able to battle for up to five-and-a-half hours – as British veteran Dan Evans did last week – on the unforgiving hard surfaces of Flushing Meadows.
Draper knows the importance of conditioning better than most, having suffered a series of agonising injury setbacks over the last couple of seasons. In his new, clean-living persona, he doesn’t just avoid alcohol but caffeine as well.
“I always was someone who liked to enjoy myself, enjoyed time at home, and maybe didn’t have a working mindset,” Draper explained. “Whereas the life of a tennis player is very different to that.
“I had to be a bit more lonely and make sure I’m doing all the right things for my warm ups, my cooldowns, keeping my body fresh, my ice baths, my gym sessions. Since last year, I’ve definitely put my head down a lot more and just focused on myself and what’s important to me.
“It’s sometimes a bit of a lonely existence, being a top tennis player. You have just got to make many sacrifices.”
Draper’s very acknowledgement of this point marks him out from the rank and file. The tour is full of institutionalised tennis cyborgs, who have spent so much time in academies that their world barely extends beyond the baseline. If they stay in the player lounge from dawn till dusk, they don’t know what they’re missing.
Draper was more fortunate. He grew up in the ultimate tennis family: father Roger used to be chief executive of the Lawn Tennis Association, mother Nicky the best junior prospect in Britain. As a result, his parents were able to teach him the rudiments without sending him away from their Oxshott home. He then attended a regular, if sporty, private school in nearby Cobham.
This is a well-raised young man who has both hinterland and a personable way of dealing with all the moving parts of the tennis circuit: stringers, drivers, media. You can talk to him about books and movies, even if – as Telegraph Sport reported in June – Draper can’t quite work out what his long-term coach James Trotman sees in abstract art.
Should Draper move to the next level of eminence – and most of his peers see him as a future top-tenner at the very least – it seems unlikely that he will grow big-headed. He isn’t the sort who sees a high world ranking as the be-all and end-all of life.
At the same time, though, Draper doesn’t underestimate his own abilities. With his combination of size and agility, plus a lethal lefty serve that swerves like a boomerang, he makes for an unconventional and uncongenial opponent.
“I feel a really big opportunity, if I stay injury free,” said Draper. “I don’t feel like I’m too far away. I’ve just got to keep working, and hopefully over time the results will come as well and I can be right at the top of the game with those guys.
“I’m full of respect and admiration for Andy, and I suppose there’s a reason why his body has taken a toll because he’s obviously had that consistency and put his mind and his body through so much. He’s gone on to achieve amazing things as well. I have that in mind that if I can just keep on going and keep on pushing myself, then I’m gonna be hopefully having the type of successes that he’s had.”
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