Jack Draper is seeking to bounce again in Asia as he targets a powerful finish to the season following the frustration of Nice Britain’s Davis Cup exit.
The 22-year-old arrived in Manchester on a excessive from his run to the US Open semi-finals and breakthrough into the highest 20, however he was unable to information his nation to the quarter-finals, shedding to Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo and Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada.
Draper appeared understandably a bit of mentally and bodily jaded, however he’ll fly out to Tokyo on Tuesday to organize for subsequent week’s Japan Open adopted by the Shanghai Masters in China, each of that are reside on Sky Sports activities.
“To be in my position now where I’m No 20 in the world and all that progress I’ve made in all situations in my tennis, my mind, my body, the way I feel, I’m extremely proud of the work I’ve done in the last year,” stated Draper.
“However I’ve nonetheless received a really lengthy technique to go, rather a lot to enhance and rather a lot to study and work on.
“I wish to get to the place the place I am constantly successful and taking part in at a excessive stage week in, week out.
“I wish to have an excellent Asia swing and an excellent indoor season. The work’s not finished but. This era for me, I’ve performed quite a lot of tennis and I’ve travelled rather a lot, it is about taking care of my physique, ensuring I do not break down.
“I want to keep my motivation strong so that I can finish the year hopefully in a really strong way and then obviously have a prolonged pre-season and work really hard on my body and improve ready for next year.”
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Following his run to the US Open semi-final, Martina Navratilova believes Draper can proceed to go far within the Grand Slam occasions subsequent 12 months
One important profit for Draper of Britain not qualifying for the Davis Cup finals is that he’ll end his season at the start fairly than the tip of November, giving him two months to take a while off and put together for 2025.
Following his exploits in New York, he’ll now be thought to be a possible grand slam title challenger, with the expectations and profile to match.
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Following his US Open semi-final defeat to Sinner, Draper opened up about his nervousness, describing himself as ‘fairly an anxious human being’
Nice Britain Davis Cup captain Leon Smith stated: “Because Andy [Murray’s] retired, there’s a focal point on Jack and rightly so.
“He is younger and he had two or three years the place he did not play an enormous quantity of tennis. He is exhibiting wonderful stuff, high 20 now, semis of a slam.
“His next stage is to keep going, keep working, keep being humble – he’s great that way, he’s a very, very good human being and he’s got extremely good people around him. It’s very exciting for him. I think Jack will handle it well. He wants it.”
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Tim Henman reveals his help for Draper following a ruthless US Open semi-final match towards Sinner
What else is developing on Sky Sports activities Tennis in September?
- Korea Open – WTA 500 (September 16-22 – with Emma Raducanu in motion)
- Thailand Open – WTA 250 (September 16-22)
- Chengdu Open – ATP 250 (September 17-24)
- Hangzhou Open – ATP 250 (September 18-24)
- Japan Open – ATP 500 (September 25-October 1)
- China Open – ATP 500 (September 26-October 2)
- China Open – WTA 1000 (September 25-October 6)
Sky Sports activities+ has formally launched and might be built-in into Sky TV, streaming service NOW and the Sky Sports activities app, giving Sky Sports activities prospects entry to over 50 per cent extra reside sport this 12 months at no further value. Discover out extra right here.
