British No. 1 Jack Draper had a breakthrough year in 2024, winning his first two ATP Tour titles and reaching the semi-finals of the US Open.
The Londoner collected more than £2m in prize money and rose to a career-high 15th in the rankings after 39 wins from his 61 matches.
Draper misses the United Cup with a hamstring injury that also ruled him out of a training session with four-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz, but hopes to be fit for the Australian Open in Melbourne from January 12.
“Honestly, I haven’t been able to train like I wanted. My preparation for Australia probably won’t be the best,” he said.
“But this is the situation in sports. you have to roll with the highs and the lows. I hope I give myself the best chance to play well.”
When can Draper next appear on Sky Sports?
The left-hander is not expected to play any events ahead of the season’s first Grand Slam, while he has already decided to miss his country’s Davis Cup tie with Japan at the end of January.
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After her run to the semi-finals of the US Open, Martina Navratilova believes Draper can continue to go far in the Grand Slams in 2025.
The ATP 250 event will take place in Montpellier on January 27. Before February, there are competitions in Dallas, Rotterdam, Delray Beach, Buenos Aires, Marseille, Rio de Janeiro, Doha, Dubai, Acapulco and Santiago, where Draper can be selected.
March is then dominated by the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells and Miami, before the clay court season sees tournaments of similar status in Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome from May 25 to June 8 before the French Open.
Wimbledon runs from June 30 to July 15, before Draper returns to Flushing Meadows for the US Open, live on Sky Sports, from August 30 to September 2.
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Draper defeated Karen Khachanov to win the Vienna Open and win his first ATP 500 title.
What did Draper achieve in 2024?
Having suffered his second defeat in as many ATP finals in January. After his loss to Jiri Lehecka at the Adelaide International in Sofia the previous November, Draper won his next two ATP finals in 2024, on grass in Stuttgart and then on indoor hard court in Vienna.
The Sutton-born player beat Mario Berettini in Germany in June to win his first ATP 250 title and four months later made it to ATP 500 when he beat Karen Khachanov in straight sets in Austria.
Other notable match wins included beating Alcaraz at Queens and Alex de Minaur at the US Open, while he had two wins over another pair of top 10 players in Hubert Hurkach (Japan) and Taylor Fritz (Paris).
He struggled against world No. 1 Yannick Siner before going out in three sets in the US Open semifinals, and that run to the last four saw him reach the season-ending ATP Tour finals before those hopes were dashed in the last 16 in Paris. losing to De Minaur in the th round.
Draper will also be disappointed with his Wimbledon second-round loss to compatriot Cameron Norrie, and perhaps he was unable to defend his win over Alcaraz at Queen’s, going down to Tommy Paul in the next round.
Draper is ready to shake up the best players in 2025
Draper said: “I have this inner belief now. I’ll go again next year with more motivation to really shake up the guys at the top of the game like Sinner and Alcaraz.”
“Winning my first title and then the US Open was a big part of me really belonging. It’s been a snowball effect ever since.
“If I can continue to improve physically and get more experience at this high level against top players, I’ll give myself a chance to compete with those guys. But there’s still a lot of work to do.
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Draper sat down with Gigi Salmon to discuss her career so far, dealing with the demands of the ATP Tour and realizing her potential in 2025.
“As a young player, I’m still learning to deal with the demands of touring, week in, week out, playing against a lot of these guys.
“I’ve only played 120 matches on tour. Most of them have played 400, 500. It’s made a huge difference in how much I’ve improved mentally, physically and emotionally in the last 40 matches.
“So to think that I’m so behind on it, that I’m still able to accomplish what I’ve been doing, I think I just need more time.”
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