HAVING claimed victory on the hallowed turf of Wimbledon’s Centre Court, in place of crocked Andy Murray, young pretender Jack Draper had a humble message to fans.
He told the cheering crowd: “I know you probably wanted to see Andy out here but you’re stuck with me instead.”
Plenty of female fans would disagree.
They are more than happy to see the 22-year-old male model taking over from Sir Andy as the darling of British tennis.
The 6ft 4in South Londoner has already appeared in glossy shoots for Vogue and Tatler magazines and is signed with the world-renowned IMG modelling agency.
He told Vogue last month: “I quite enjoy being in front of the camera.”
And the cameras certainly can’t get enough of the handsome newcomer, who is the country’s best hope at Wimbledon this year.
He has an army of young fans on TikTok and Instagram gushing over his good looks and is already worth more than £2million thanks to sponsorship deals with Dunlop, Vodafone and Nike.
The all-rounder has also studied criminology at degree level through the Open University and showed huge potential skill in football by joining Chelsea’s youth set-up aged 11.
But it is his talent with a racket that is generating the most excitement.
He is the British No1, ranked 28 in the world, and recently beat Wimbledon champ Carlos Alcaraz on grass.
He also won his first ATP title last month, defeating Matteo Berrettini at the Stuttgart Open.
Former fan favourite Tim Henman believes Jack has what it takes to win an all-important major just as Murray did.
He said: “I see him as a future Grand Slam champion with the progress he’s making.”
With ex-world No1 Murray pulling out of the Wimbledon singles due to injury earlier on Tuesday, Jack switched from No2 court to centre.
His five-set first-round win against Sweden’s Elias Ymer means he now faces fellow Brit Cameron Norrie today.
As the previous British leading hope, 28-year-old Norrie will be a tough opponent, having reached the semi- finals at SW19 two years ago.
Jack, though, was born to play the sport.
His mum Nicky was a junior national tennis champion who now coaches the game.
His dad Roger was chief executive of the Lawn Tennis Association for seven years and brother Ben, 25, gained a tennis scholarship at Berkeley University in California.
There was quite a lot of jealousy when I was younger
Jack
Jack said: “My tennis journey started when I was really young, probably two years old.
“My mum was a tennis coach, and when she was coaching, my brother and I would hang around trying to entertain ourselves. I quickly picked up a racket and started hitting against the wall.”
Unusually, the right-handed sportsman chose to use his left hand to hold the racket. That approach did no harm to 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal.
Born in Sutton, Jack, whose parents are divorced, grew up in the village of Ashtead, Surrey, and attended the nearby private Parkside School from the age of four.
There, he was coached twice a week by Justin Sherring, whose previous students include former British No1 Johanna Konta.
Sherring says Jack was “crazy competitive, a natural-born sort of fighter”.
That drive was evident when his brother Ben won against him in an official match.
Jack said: “When we were younger, the only time we played against each other — he beat me and that just killed me, even though he’s four years older than me.”
Playing for fun with Ben helped improve his game, as did the time the rest of his family put in.
Sherring said: “We’d spend hours and hours, his mum and I, just working with him.
“I’d be coaching and she’d be picking up the balls. Then his dad would come and hit a few balls with him, so it was a real family effort all the way through.”
In his younger days, some rivals thought Jack was there thanks to his dad’s powerful position in tennis.
He recalled: “There was quite a lot of jealousy when I was younger.
“I would often go to junior tournaments and have 15 boys on the balcony — people I’d never seen before — willing me to lose, making noises before I served, all that sort of stuff.”
But no parent can win games for you and the youngster went on to prove himself on the courts.
In 2018 he reached the junior boys’ singles final at Wimbledon, narrowly losing out to top seed Tseng Chun-hsin in a closely fought match.
That success automatically led to more financial support from British tennis’s governing body, which dad Roger had stepped down from five years earlier.
Rising up the youth ranks at the same time was Emma Raducanu, and the pair are still good pals.
Emma, 21, who won the US Open when she was just 18, has known Jack since he was ten and they once shared the same agent.
Jack, who has a pad in Putney, South London, is currently single and concentrating on his game.
He said it is “tough to sustain any sort of relationship” in tennis, where players travel across the globe competing in tournaments.
Like Emma, he has overcome some major injury setbacks.
Abdominal, hip and shoulder problems kept him off court and damaged his ranking, forcing him to retire during matches.
An earlier spell of Covid — in January 2021 — which Jack described as an “aggressive” case of the virus, sidelined him for two weeks.
Just two months later he collapsed from exhaustion in sweltering heat at the Miami Open and needed medical support.
It’s really frustrating. It’s a brutal sport. I hate being the guy who is injured a lot
Jack
Last year, a shoulder injury he suffered in practice at the French Open in May saw him take the difficult decision to miss Wimbledon.
At the time he said: “It’s really frustrating. It’s a brutal sport. I hate being the guy who is injured a lot.”
But he looks a lot stronger now.
As fans can see from his honed muscles, Jack built up his body strength to cope better with what can be an arduous activity, when players are on court for hours on end.
It was an injury woe that saw Murray bow out of the tournament — the former Wilmbledon champ having had an operation on a spinal cyst.
It is now highly unlikely the 37-year-old Scot will take part in a men’s singles match at Wimbledon ever again, although he intends to compete in the men’s doubles with brother Jamie and the mixed doubles with Emma.
Jack has already proved he is a good prospect for success by defeating Andy at the Indian Wells Masters in March last year.
He also displays some of the sporting legend’s fiery temperament — smashing his racket in frustration at the Miami Open four months ago.
Tennis is a solitary game where psychological strength in tough moments is as important as a player’s physical tenacity.
Jack recognises it takes a certain kind of person to play the sport.
He said: “If you asked the people around me, they’d probably say I’m a little bit nuts. In all honesty, being a professional athlete, especially being a tennis player, you have to be a bit nuts.”
One person who sadly, won’t get to truly appreciate his achievements is his gran Brenda, who was diagnosed with dementia ten years ago and no longer knows who Jack is.
He said: “If my tennis matches are on TV, it doesn’t register with her any more.”
A win over Norrie today will see expectations grow that Jack can head a new era of British tennis, following the end of Murray’s dominance.
That places a lot of pressure on Jack’s broad shoulders.
But he isn’t shying away from the challenge.
After Tuesday’s Centre Court triumph, Jack said: “It’s going to be tough to emulate what Andy’s achieved.
“It’s obviously unbelievable. He’s won here a couple of times.
“If I just keep on improving, keep on doing my best, I don’t see why I can’t be a great player like Andy has been.”
