In his tenth Grand Slam main draw appearance, and his third at the US Open, 22-year-old Jack Draper has hit his stride like never before.
Or should we say flow?
The 25th-ranked Brit, who defeated 10th-seeded Aussie Alex de Minaur, 6-3, 7-5, 6-2, on Wednesday to reach his first major semifinal, likes to phrase it that way.
“I feel like my tennis feels really flowing and I feel like I'm not using too much energy when I'm playing the points,” said Draper, who is the only man to reach the semifinals in New York without dropping a set, and the lowest-ranked player remaining in the men’s singles draw in Flushing Meadows.
Draper, a rocket-serving southpaw who hits a menacing forehand, has not only relied on his eye-catching power to become the first British man to reach a US Open semifinal since legend Andy Murray won the title at the Open in 2012. He’s now relying on intangibles, like experience, self-belief and—something he has craved throughout his career and just now started to experience—peak fitness.
“I think coming here this week, I've been feeling like a more complete player,” he told reporters on Wednesday as he looked ahead to facing either top-seeded Jannik Sinner or No. 5-seeded Daniil Medvedev for a spot in the US Open men’s final on Friday. “In the past I've always worried a little bit about playing five sets and mentally and emotionally having it be too much for me, and kind of just thinking, 'Am I good enough to play these best players in the world in best-of-five sets?'”
Untethered from that stress and anxiety, Draper is free to focus on imposing himself on his opponents. He has done that brilliantly in New York thus far.
He has won 61.7% of points that are four-or-less strokes, and broke serve in 47% of his return games, which leads all remaining players.
From the service stripe he’s been spot-on as well. Draper has saved 25 of 28 (89%) of the break points he has faced through five rounds, which also leads all remaining players. Despite the fact that he dropped serve twice during his victory over de Minaur on Wednesday, Draper has held serve in 60 of his 63 service games (95%), which leads all players in service games held through five rounds.
Numbers don’t lie: during the Flushing fortnight, Draper has struck the perfect balance between aggression and efficiency.
His coach, James Trotnam, says the transition to more first-strike tennis doesn’t have to be a drastic one, however.
“Adding layers, being brave in the right moments—it's doing a little bit more with the balls, it's making sure you see the short ball and the opportunity to take it,” he says. “But it's not a complete rebuild of a player.”
Draper has studied the best in the world for years and taken notes. He knows his game has enough sizzle, now it’s the silkiness that he seeks.
“By playing more aggressive tennis, I thought that maybe I had to force it all the time and use up so much energy doing it,” said the Sutton, England, native. “But instead, I think when we watch the best players in the world, one thing they do is they do everything pretty effortlessly and they do it within themselves, and they do things with such good efficiency.”
Add to that newfound fitness, and we see why Draper is making big noise in New York. His next match will be the biggest challenge of his young career, but Draper believes he’s got what it takes to turn up the volume on the world’s best on the biggest stage in tennis.
“I still feel like I have got so much left in my locker,” he said. “It gives me a lot of peace of mind knowing that my body feels good or robust, and I'm ready to go the distance if I need to.”
