Semifinals: Jack Draper vs. Jannik Sinner
Arthur Ashe Stadium — Day Session — Second Match
- On Friday night, No. 25 seed Jack Draper will go up against the most recent hard-court major winner, No. 1 seed Jannik Sinner as they both attempt to reach their first US Open final.
- Sinner is on a nine-match winning streak after lifting the trophy at Cincinnati, and leads the tour with 33 hard-court wins in 2024, and has a 43-1 record against players outside the Top 10. He is looking to become the first Italian man to play the US Open final.
- But Brit Draper is on a hot streak of his own as the only player left in the men’s draw who has yet to drop a set in Flushing, and he has only been broken once. The only seed he has faced thus far was No. 10 Alex de Minaur in the quarterfinals, but he also turned back Botic van De Zandschulp, the player who dispatched No. 3 seed and 2022 champion Carlos Alcaraz.
- Sinner has faced some fierce competition here in Queens, playing No. 14 seed Tommy Paul and No. 5 seed Daniil Medvedev, the only previous US Open champion left in the draw before Sinner dispatched him in four sets.
- The pair have only met once throughout their tour-level careers, in the first round at Queen’s Club in 2021. Draper, no stranger to the British grass, won the match in straight sets, 7-6(6), 7-6(2).
- Draper’s best Grand Slam results have been at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, reaching the third round in 2022 and the fourth round in 2023. At the other majors, he has yet to advance past Round 2.
- This run to the semifinals has been Sinner’s best result at the US Open, after he reached the quarterfinals in 2022, falling to Carlos Alcaraz in a five-setter that lasted until 2:50 a.m., the latest finish in US Open history.
- Draper and Sinner are good friends, and the pair played doubles together in Montreal earlier this summer, reaching the quarterfinals. “Jannik is a good friend, someone I'm definitely close to,” Draper said. “We send each other messages in good moments, bad moments. It's a tough sport to play when you're a young guy. You're on the road, you're playing such a relentlessly intense sport, both physically, emotionally, and it's difficult. We haven't got many friends, so to have the support of someone who's going through it themselves is really big.”
- While the Italian is the world No. 1, he’s not expecting an easy win over Draper. “It's going to be a tough match,” Sinner said. “He hasn't lost one set yet. He's playing great. He's serving great. I saw also the match today, he's hitting very, very strong. So it's going to be [a] tough match but I'm looking forward to it and hopefully it's going to be a good match.”
