British No 1 Jack Draper enjoyed a breakthrough 2024, winning his first two ATP Tour titles and reaching the US Open semi-finals.
The Londoner scooped over £2 million in prize money and rose to a career-high 15th in the rankings after 39 victories in his 61 matches.
Draper is missing the United Cup due to a hip injury – that also prevented him from attending a training camp with four-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz – but is hopeful of being fit for the Australian Open in Melbourne from January 12.
“In all honesty, I haven’t been able to train the way I wanted to. My preparation, probably, for Australia won’t be the best,” said.
“But that’s the situation in the sport – you’ve got to roll with the highs and lows. Hopefully I give myself the best shot of playing well.”
When might Draper next be in action on Sky Sports?
The left-hander is not expected to play in any events ahead of the first Grand Slam of the season, while he has already decided to skip his country’s Davis Cup tie with Japan in late January.
There is an ATP 250 event in Montpellier starting on January 27, before February sees competitions in Dallas, Rotterdam, Delray Beach, Buenos Aires, Marseilles, Rio de Janeiro, Doha, Dubai, Acapulco and Santiago for Draper to potentially choose from.
March is then dominated by the big hard-court Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells and Miami, before the clay-court season features similar-status tournaments in Monte-Carlo, Madrid and Rome, ahead of the French Open from May 25 to June 8.
Wimbledon runs from June 30 to July 15 before Draper will return to Flushing Meadows, live on Sky Sports, for the US Open from August 30 to September 2.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
What did Draper achieve in 2024?
Atter suffering a second defeat in as many ATP finals in January – his loss to Jiri Lehecka in the Adelaide International following on from falling short against Adrian Mannarino in Sofia the previous November – Draper won his next two ATP finals in 2024, on the grass in Stuttgart and then the indoor hard court in Vienna.
The Sutton-born player came from a set down to beat Mario Berrettini in Germany in June to claim his maiden ATP 250 title and upgraded that to an ATP 500 trophy four months later when he defeated Karen Khachanov in straight sets in Austria.
Other notable match wins included defeating Alcaraz at Queen’s and Alex De Minaur at the US Open, while he also recorded two victories over another pair of top-10 players in Hubert Hurkacz (in Japan) and Taylor Fritz (in Paris).
He battled gamely against world No 1 Jannik Sinner before going down in three sets in the US Open semi-finals, with that run to the last four keeping him in with a chance of reaching the season-ending ATP Tour Finals before those hopes were extinguished by defeat to De Minaur in the last 16 in Paris.
Draper will also be disappointed to have lost in the second round at Wimbledon – beaten by compatriot Cameron Norrie – and perhaps that he was unable to back up his win over Alcaraz at Queen’s, falling to Tommy Paul in the next round.
Draper ready to ‘shake up’ top players in 2025
Draper said: “I’ve got this inner belief now. I’ll go again next year with even bigger motivation to really shake up those guys at the top of the game – the likes of Sinner and Alcaraz.
“Winning my first title, then the US Open, have been huge in really believing that I belong. It’s been a snowball effect since then.
“If I can keep on improving physically, and getting more experience at this higher level against top players, I’m going to give myself a shot at competing with those guys. But there’s a lot of work to do.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
“As a young player, I’m still learning to cope with the demands of playing on the tour, week-in, week-out, against a lot of these guys.
“I’ve only played 120 matches on the tour. A lot of them have played 400, 500. How much I’ve improved from a mental, physical, emotional standpoint in the last 40 matches – it’s a huge difference.
“So to think that I’m that far behind it, I’m still able to achieve what I’ve been doing, I think I just need more time.”
Watch the ATP and WTA Tours, as well as the US Open in New York, live on Sky Sports in 2025 or stream with NOW.
Source : Sky Sports
