Jack Draper targets ‘really strong’ end to year after Davis Cup disappointment

The 22-year-old arrived in Manchester on a high from his run to the US Open semi-finals and breakthrough into the top 20, but he was unable to guide his country to the quarter-finals, losing to Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo and Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada.

Draper looked understandably a little mentally and physically jaded, but he will fly out to Tokyo on Tuesday to prepare for next week’s Japan Open followed by the Shanghai Masters in China.

“To be in my position now where I’m 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, but I’ve still got a very long way to go and I’ve got a lot to improve and a lot to learn and work on,” said Draper.

“I want to get to the position where I’m consistently winning and playing at a high level week in, week out.

“I want to have a good Asia swing and a good indoor season. The work’s not done yet. I think this period for me, I’ve played a lot of tennis and I’ve travelled a lot, it’s about looking after my body, making sure I don’t 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.”

One significant benefit for Draper of Britain not qualifying for the Davis Cup Finals is that he will finish his season at the beginning rather than the end of November, giving him two months to take some time off and prepare for 2025.

Following his exploits in New York, he will now be regarded as a potential grand slam title challenger, with the expectations and profile to match.

Great Britain Davis Cup captain Leon Smith said: “Because Andy (Murray’s) retired, there’s a focal point on Jack and rightly so.

“He’s young and he had two or three years where he didn’t play a huge amount of tennis. He’s showing amazing stuff, top 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.”

The week in Manchester shows there remains a big appetite for live tennis in Britain despite Murray’s retirement, with a record crowd of 15,700 people attending Sunday’s tie against Canada.

Draper could lead Britain’s Davis Cup team for the next decade and attention is now turning to which young players will support him.

Dan Evans, a stalwart in the competition for 15 years, said on Sunday that he might have played his last tie, while Cameron Norrie will turn 30 next year and missed last week’s matches through injury.

Top of the list of future candidates is 23-year-old Jacob Fearnley, who has climbed 400 places in the rankings to 129 in just three months since leaving college in the United States.

Fearnley won a second-tier Challenger title in Rennes on Sunday and Smith, who has known the Edinburgh player since he went to nursery with Smith’s children, said: “We need another Scotsman.

“He’s gone really quickly. It’s really impressive. The way he’s going, he’ll be part of squads in the future for sure. It’s one thing going up the rankings, but you also see his quality. You look at the players that he’s been beating.

“It’s not easy winning a Challenger in France. He’s had to beat five (French players) in a row in front of big crowds, that’s also a good sign if you’re going to be a Davis Cup player, that you can handle those sort of things.”

Britain’s next Davis Cup tie will come in the qualifiers in February unless they are given a wild card into next year’s group stage.