Former doubles world No 1 Jamie Murray thinks Jack Draper “has got a huge upside to his game” as he believes the 20-year-old’s future in the game is very bright. Draper, who started the 2022 season ranked outside the top-250 in the world, won four Challenger titles early in the year.
Then, Draper got a chance to test himself on the main level as in August he made the Montreal Masters quarterfinal as a qualifier. Now, Draper is ranked at No 42 in the world and considered one of the most talented and promising players in the game.
Murray on Draper’s potential
“I think Jack’s obviously had an incredible year, he started the year outside of the top 200 and finished inside the top 50, almost inside the top 40. It’s difficult to know what his ceiling is really because he’s so young and he also he’s barely played on the tour really, I mean he’s probably done like four months or something which is nothing so it’ll be great to watch him next year, watch his progress, see what he can do but he’s got a huge upside to his game and I’m sure that he’ll be playing at the top of the game for a long time in his career,” Murray told Express Sport.
During the pandemic, Murray was the driving force behind the Battle of the Brits project. Reflecting on that, Murray noted that youngsters like Draper benefited from being around the experienced British players. “I think probably for a lot of them it was a big kind of learning curve to be on a team with Andy or Jo Konta or Norrie and Evo [Evans] and these guys, I think that was huge,” Murray said.
This December, there will be another edition of the Battle of the Brits as England will be taking on Scotland. Jamie and Andy Murray, as well as Draper, Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans are all set to play.
