Draper tackles De Minaur rematch with US Open semi-final in sight

A Days after claiming his first career Grand Slam victory at Wimbledon in 2022, 20-year-old Jack Draper was given a rare opportunity to test his mettle against one of the world’s best in a best-of-five set match.

The first results of his second round battle on court no. 1 with Alex de Minaur were encouraging. Despite their 67th place in the rankings and the three years that separated them, they went into the battle as equals and were tied after the two exciting, thrilling sets.

The intensity of their exchanges, however, left a significant impression on the challenger and Draper spent the rest of the match panting and hunched over as he faded in the final two sets. Between his undeniable raw talent and the physical problems that eventually saw him handcuffed, the match was a perfect reflection of Draper’s early development.

They meet again on Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the US Open, perhaps the biggest match of their careers. In a draw that has produced countless upsets and early exits, with third seed Carlos Alcaraz losing early in their section, there is no top player to beat on the way to the last four. This is a huge opportunity for both.

While De Minaur has embraced a more attacking style of play, taking the ball earlier and strengthening his forehand to differentiate himself from the top players, he will again look to extend the exchanges, wear Draper down and test all the physical issues that Draper has repeatedly struggled with since his emergence.

After so many injuries and absences, it has taken Draper an admirable amount of work to build himself into an athlete who can compete with the best. He now needs to show how far he has come, especially against an opponent who has won all three meetings.

Despite reaching his first Grand Slam quarter-final without dropping a set, Draper has repeatedly described his run here as odd. He is understandably unhappy with his 53% first-serve average, but he has been incredibly clutch, saving 20 of 21 break points and losing serve once, repeatedly stopping opponents from building momentum.

Against a player and returner like De Minaur, he will clearly need to land more first serves and maintain aggression with his forehand. Draper has shown how versatile his game is, combining neat net forays with serve and volley attempts. He will need them to keep De Minaur off balance and break his defense.

Draper is an incredibly ambitious figure who believes he can become a top player and spend the majority of his career fighting for the biggest titles. But it took him a while to gain that deep confidence.

Before the quarterfinals, he reflected on a career that had seen two periods where he seriously considered quitting. The first period came when he started on the lower rungs of the professional circuit.

“When you’re younger, you have all these big dreams of winning Wimbledon and all that stuff,” he said. “Then you come out of juniors and you go into the gravel, you go into the 15Ks, the challengers.

“It’s crazy. You have to go to all these difficult places to play and beat guys. And it’s really difficult. It’s not the strawberries and cream of Wimbledon that I expected.

“It was a real grind for a couple of years, learning the nature of the tennis world and how hard I have to work to become a top player, and the traveling and the sacrifices.”

After deciding to fight and beginning his rise, Draper’s doubts overwhelmed him again in 2022, at the height of his various physical problems. He had lost almost all confidence in his body and its ability to withstand the rigors of being a professional.

“I thought, with all my injuries and the difficult times I went through, would I be good enough to continue to be the top player I wanted to be, because I didn’t want to be a player who wouldn’t become a top player.”

All those struggles only strengthened his determination and these moments, competing in the biggest stadiums in a Grand Slam tournament, are exactly what he has been working towards.

It will be interesting to see if he is really willing to take his chance and go even further.