Jack Draper’s game has been developing at a rapid rate in 2024 with the 22-year-old picking up his first ATP title in Stuttgart three months ago. A straight-sets defeat to compatriot Cameron Norrie at Wimbledon temporarily dampened the hype around the youngster, but during this week’s career-best run at the US Open, he has looked better than ever.
The past two weeks have showcased some of the best weapons on display in men’s tennis.
Discreet dropshot
During the quarter-final, this shot left 10th seed Alex de Minaur helpless twice within the space of nine games. The Briton uses the disguise of opening up his body to make the opponent believe a big forehand is coming their way, but instead an net-skimming dropshot appears.
And in the semi-final he took to delivering a different type of drop-shot altogether, approaching the net before killing the ball stone dead.
‘Can-opener’ serve
Arguably Draper’s most useful shot, making the most of his hooping lefty serve to a right-hander’s shorter backhand wing. By forcing his opponent out wide Draper opens up the court and gains immediate authority in the point. Going into the semi-final against Jannik Sinner, Draper had won 175 out of 216 (81%) points on first serve, many of them starting like this.
Bulletproof backhand
The control and authority Draper can impose with his backhand is well above average. Due to being right-handed in most activities outside of the court, he naturally has strength and accuracy on his supposedly weaker side.
Well-timed aces
Of the four men’s semi-finalists, Draper had hit the second most aces during the competition, with only Taylor Fritz ahead in the list. Improvements have been made in recent months and former coach Wayne Ferreira – who split from Draper in August – told The Tennis Podcast in June: “I could help tweak with regards to the serve, which we’ve been working on for the last two months being a little bit more aggressive.”
Finished in style 🤩
Jack Draper eases into the third round of the US Open after a straight sets win against Facundo Diaz Acosta 👏 pic.twitter.com/Mea5lTUPDD
— Sky Sports Tennis (@SkySportsTennis) August 29, 2024
Swerving forehand
Draper’s forehand isn’t as strong as his backhand but he does slams a good proportion of them away for unanswerable winners. He often hits it with a curious combination of top and side-spin that makes it drift sideways at the last instant to bambooze opponents. There is a touch of Rafael Nadal in the way Draper loads his forehand with curl and top-spin.
Never-say-die attitude
Draper admitted during his US Open run that there were times in his career when he considered quitting tennis altogether. That determination to continue has also been in evidence at a micro level on the court. Some of Draper’s defensive rallies have been very much in the mould of Andy Murray or Novak Djokovic.
This obduracy was also on display in the semi-final when Draper, suffering in the intense heat and humidity, threw up on court three times during the second set, yet still took Sinner to a tie-break. He showed plenty of guts out on court – quite literally.
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