British tennis star Jack Draper is back from injury at the Australian Open and more popular than ever. The 23 year-old left-hander from Sutton fought off Mariano Navone in four-hour match last week, and is facing Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis in the second round today (Wednesday, January 15).
Draper’s match last week was his first since October, following a hip-injury which prevented him from playing a warm-up match before the year’s first tennis Grand Slam. He said about his performance to the BBC: “I think I showed a lot of heart today. It wasn’t pretty at all. It was nowhere near my best. Sometimes it’s about showing some heart. I’m really, really proud of that. I think that’s a big win.”
Draper has never made it past the tournament’s second-round, so his battle against Kokkinakis is set to be tense and at the time of writing was deep into a fourth set. The tennis star was ranked 15th in the world by the ATP in October 2024 and won two titles on the ATP tour.
The passionate Australian fans have been giving home favourite Thanasi Kokkinakis strong backing in his match against Jack Draper
(Image: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)
However, the player is recognised not only for this on-court talents, but recently for his off-court friendship with fellow player Emma Raducanu. The 22-year old US Open winner is good friends with Draper, and the pair have been spotted together at various tournaments.
Draper spoke highly of Raducanu to The Times : “I’ve always been there for her. She’s extremely bubbly, very kind, very thoughtful, always giggling, really smart.” Denying romance rumours, the firm friends have known each other for several years and appear to be each other’s biggest supporters.
Following Raducanu’s impressive 2021 US Open win, Draper said: “Obviously, we’ve watched the likes of Andy Murray winning a Grand Slam from Great Britain, but her winning, it was just really a fairy-tale run. I definitely think as a competitor, it fuelled my fire. I really wanted to achieve what she’d done, winning a Grand Slam.”
Both Raducanu and Draper are hoping to make it past the tournament’s challenging second round, with the women’s star going head-to-head with Amanda Anisimova on January 16.
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