Jack Draper is ready to forget his injury-hit season and hopes he (and Emma Raducanu) can take 2024 by storm... as he tips the Brit Pack to make a big noise next year

When the tennis season dawns in the New Year it may be a blessing and a curse for Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu that plenty of eyes will be upon them.

The two contemporaries have the potential to stand out for British tennis over the next decade, but both were big misses for much of 2023 and will share a Christmas wish that they can enjoy a clean bill of health when it all starts again.

Few have known Raducanu better than her fellow 21 year-old Draper, and he insists that people must exercise patience when it comes to his longstanding friend.

‘When she's fit, she's an incredible player,’ says Draper, who will resurface this weekend as part of the eight-man Ultimate Tennis Challenge exhibition event at London’s Excel Arena. 

‘I think people forget that before the US Open she was still in school, she didn't have a lot of training. I think to expect so much of her after that is a bit of a mistake because she hasn't maybe got a lot of that physical foundation and the experience of playing on the tour that all those other players have.

‘But I think the talent that she's got and the maturity to do what she did at the US Open is off the charts. If she can get herself to being a good fitness level where she's built up that resilience over months and years and keeps working on her game, she'll be right up there with the best in the world and competing for Grand Slams. The fitness side of things, it's not a quick fix, it takes a lot of time.’

He hopes that she will experience the same feeling as he had when making a strong return in the latter part of 2023, the urge to make up for lost time after having to sit out centrepieces like Wimbledon.

‘I think maybe with my shoulder injury you come off court and have all this time watching people win things on the big stages, and you kind of feel like you're not being productive. You gain that love for it back. I don't know how she's going to get on but I know that at some point next year, or the year after that she's going to be back to being in those finals and big positions because she's got everything it takes. It's just a matter of when.’

Draper has taken a different path to her in that he has assembled a steady team around him for the coming challenges including fitness trainer Steve Kotze, coach James Trotman and physio Will Herbert. The latter happens to be the man who played such a key role in keeping Raducanu fit at Flushing Meadows.

It is one reason he is confident that there will not be a repeat of this year, when a succession of ailments derailed him for months at a time.

‘That's kind of a lesson learned. I think now, after having all those injuries, what's a positive is that I understand my body a whole lot better. I do certain things for certain areas of my body which are weaker to make sure that they're strengthened and that's not going to be a problem.

‘So I feel like in terms of the body stuff, I'm in a great place and I'm hoping that that being Mr. Injured is behind me now. I want to be top 20 in the world. I want to stay injury free. I want to make sure that I'm able to play five sets in the Grand Slam without breaking down physically.’

Being prepared to invest in his support group looks the smarter course of action. Draper will begin the season in Australia ranked 61, but if he continues his post US Open trajectory – which saw him win 18 out of 23 matches but fall to an outstanding performance from Miomir Kecmanovic in the Davis Cup quarter final – then he will soon be heading towards getting seeded for the Grand Slams.

Draper has a refreshingly open disposition, and is keen to use his platform to support causes such as the awareness of Alzheimer’s disease.

On the court, despite being right handed in everything else he does, as a child he found playing tennis easier as a southpaw. Being a lefthander is to his advantage, and his game features a big serve which could still be improved and a heavily top spun forehand which is faintly reminiscent of another natural righthander, Rafael Nadal.

The clay court GOAT is making probably his final comeback in January, but Draper knows that his own long term goal has to be reaching the level of another Spaniard, Carlos Alcaraz, plus another near contemporary, Jannik Sinner, who had an amazing late season surge.

‘I want to be competing with those two, that's kind of my benchmark of where I want to get to,’ he says. ‘I played Alcaraz at Indian Wells this year and I've never played anyone playing like that. With a lot of players, you hit a good shot and you feel like you're in the rally and they're not going to hurt you off a certain ball.

‘Whereas I hit a shot against Alcaraz in the first couple of games - it was quite cold and windy so quite hard to create pace there - and I remember I hit a really hard backhand through the middle and he just stepped on it and I watched the ball go past me.

‘There are things that when you are playing those great players, like when I first started playing with Andy (Murray), and there are shots they make, like I've never seen before and you kind of learn from it.

‘Sinner is a friend of mine. I've known him from juniors. And whenever I speak to a player like him, who's obviously been on tour and had a lot of success, it's always the same. They say, "Well, how long have you actually been on tour for?" And I say, ‘Oh, 7, 8, 9 months’, and they reply well, this is where I was after nine months.’

Finding out how quickly Draper and Raducanu manage to fill in some of the missing building blocks will be one of the many fascinating apects to watch unfold over the coming season.