How Britain’s No 1 Wimbledon hopeful went from frail boy to muscle-bound ‘monster’ – with a mentality to match: The inside story on Jack Draper – British tennis’s next big thing

Jack Draper stalked the Queen’s Club field like an apex predator. The muscular 22-year-old knocked down serves and crushed forehands and bullied Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz into submission, scoring the win of a lifetime to thrust himself into the public consciousness.

Could this really be the same little boy who looked almost fragile compared to his peers as a junior? The young pro whose body was ravaged by injuries, or the man who collapsed in front of the press in Paris a month ago and told the press he felt like he was “playing without serve”?

Draper has always been an exceptional talent, but his path to a first title in Stuttgart this month, beating Alcaraz and British No. 1 status has been winding and treacherous.

As a growth spurt ripped through his young body, injuries followed, and he has only recently committed to leaving the small boy behind who had to fight for every point and embracing the heavyweight style of play that his powerful body demands.

His career was in many ways defined by his early years as a player. So Mail Sport spoke to Justin Sherring, who coached Draper from the age of five to 15, to tell him all about the next big thing in British tennis.

“Wherever we went, he was one of the smallest guys,” Sherring says. “We used to train with (British contemporary) Anton Matusevich – he was six foot tall and looked like (Rocky villain) Ivan Drago, and Jack was six foot tall. He had to keep up with the bigger guys, there were never any excuses.”

Lacking sufficient physical strength, Draper had to find other ways to satisfy his insatiable hunger for profit.

“When you’re little, you focus more on developing skills and tactics,” says Sherring, who now coaches four-time Grand Slam men’s doubles champion Joe Salisbury.

“So he was a very skilled player and an incredible competitor. He was the No. 1 14-year-old in Europe, but that was never due to a physical advantage.

‘When he was ten, he played with all my best sixteen-year-olds, but no one wanted to play him because he was so cooped up.

‘He was 15, in India he was playing against a very good player, six inches taller than him. I couldn’t believe how much he wanted to win and how willing he was to do whatever it took. You could see the monster that was developing.’

At the age of 17, the monster suddenly had a body to match. It was as if Draper had eaten the cake labeled ‘eat me’ that Alice finds in Wonderland; he shot up and filled out, climbing to the 6-foot frame he now embodies.

Height is a major advantage in tennis, but dramatic growth spurts can be problematic for young athletes. Ajax, the Dutch football club known for its youth development, closely monitors the growth spurts of young players and tailors training to prevent injuries.

As Draper’s body grew, the injuries kept coming, hindering his rise up the rankings. Sherring thinks Draper may have been pushed too hard — or pushed himself too hard — around this age.

“I’m coaching the next crop of boys and when they go through their big growth spurt you have to be very careful not to overtrain,” says Sherring. ‘Jack is only used to one thing and that is pushing himself to the limit. You have to keep these guys in check.

“He was with (coach) Ryan Jones and Ryan is known as an absolute beast, an absolute taskmaster. So it was maybe a little bit unfortunate that Ryan’s drive, Jack’s drive, Jack’s body… but there’s not many kids who get through that growing up phase and puberty without any issues.

“If he had met someone who was very scientifically oriented, he could have put on the brakes and said, ‘Let’s take it easy for a few months’… but I just don’t think the environment would have been like that seen. ‘

When Draper’s 2021 US Open campaign was ended by a groin injury, he brought in former Croatian Olympic sprinter Dejan Vojnovic as his new fitness coach. But his body continued to break down.

“I got hurt all over my body,” Draper said at Queen’s this month. “I had shoulder problems, hip problems. My body was just made of glass.”

In late 2023, Draper parted ways with Vojnovic and reunited with his former strength and conditioning coach Steve ‘Speedo’ Kotze, who had previously worked with Andy Murray.

Draper and Kotze reinforced their already incredible work ethic by forging the glass body into an iron frame.

“Steve is the best guy around,” Sherring says. “I’ve been on the court next to them at the National Tennis Center and the work they do…Jack plays tough points, works really hard. Then the point ends and Speedo throws a medicine ball at him and gives him some exercises and then immediately on a Wattbike, he has to blast as hard as possible, he gets 20 seconds of rest and then some box jumps.

“I looked at him one day and said, ‘Look at you: earning the right to feel like a million dollars in court.’ Later that night he messaged me and said, “Earn justice. I like that.’ It also takes a little bit of trust, because some of the guys he worked with maybe weren’t doing things that were good for his body.”

The latest chapter in the Draper story began with the intervention of former world number six Wayne Ferreira of South Africa. The 52-year-old had recently divorced American Frances Tiafoe and reached out to Draper.

It is relatively unusual for a coach to approach a player, but Ferreira felt he could improve an attacking game that he described as ‘weak’.

Draper himself felt that he had never been able to completely break away from the messy, exhausting style he had been forced to play as the smallest child on the street.

He admitted that, against top players, he felt “like I’m six feet tall.”

But since May, when Ferreira came on board, he and Draper’s main coach James Trottman began the difficult process of reshaping their player’s game.

He looked completely out of shape during the clay court game, caught in a vacuum between defense and attack and struggling with a serve that had been adapted under Ferreira’s guidance.

The low point was a first-round defeat to qualifier Jesper de Jong at the French Open. Draper was devastated but determined to push on: ‘Something has to change,’ he said. ‘And that’s going to take time.’

In reality it took just over two weeks. Draper looked like a different player as he won the title on the Stuttgart grass. After that ‘play without serving’ comment in Paris, he hit 31 aces against Tiafoe in the quarter-finals in Germany.

“It’s a lot like Andy Murray,” Sherring says. “For years he was told to stop grinding, everyone was trying to coach him to be more aggressive.

‘I’m really impressed with Jack who really goes for it. It can also be a relief — Jack says, “Okay, I’ll go for it, whatever happens, happens.” That’s a nice mentality.’

Draper could not be in a better place coming into Wimbledon. He plays Swedish qualifier Elias Ymer on Tuesday and could then face Cam Norrie, the man he has usurped as Britain’s No. 1.

Number 4 seed Alexander Zverev lies in wait in the third round, but after the victory over Alcaraz, Draper has absolutely no one to fear on this surface.

‘I was in the players’ lounge at Queen’s,’ Sherring concludes, ‘and people were saying, “Can you believe he’s just beaten Alcaraz?” I said, “Of course I can. This guy can go all the way.”‘