Draper given royal seal of approval as he chases boys’ title
AS fortnights go, this has been a pretty big one in the life of Jack Draper.
Before Wimbledon began, the lanky teenager from Surrey was just recovering from the stress of his GCSEs and was being regularly reminded by his older brother that he had never won a match at a Grand Slam.
Now, having scrambled through 10 hours 25 minutes of ferocious tennis — including a marathon battle on Friday — he has a chance of becoming Britain’s first Wimbledon boys’ singles champion since 1962.
Aside from notching up four more wins at SW19 than his tennis scholar brother, the 16-year-old has gathered another major piece of sibling ammunition — the royal seal of approval.
For he was one of a number of tennis players invited to meet the Duchesses of Cambridge and Sussex yesterday morning.
Far from the confident figure he cuts on court — roaring to the crowd at the big moments — the 6ft 2ins teenager was reduced to a bag of nerves when meeting the royals.
Yet this afternoon he will hope to join tennis royalty by lifting the prestigious trophy, with former champions including Roger Federer, Bjorn Borg, Ivan Lendl and Pat Cash.
The youngster could be forgiven for not having heard of the last British boys’ winner, Stanley Matthews — son of the great footballer — given his SW19 triumph came almost 40 years before Draper was born.
But the significance of that moment in history is not lost on Draper, who told The Mail on
Sunday: ‘It was obviously an unbelievable achievement what he did. I never expected I would be in the final.’
Triumphing on Court One today will be no easy feat for Draper, as he takes on the 16-year-old world No1 Chun Hsin Tseng, of Chinese Taipei, who has not dropped a set in the tournament so far.
In contrast to Draper’s 264-minute semi-final, which finished 19-17 in the third set and included more than 400 points, Tseng advanced in 61 minutes with a 6-3, 6-1 victory.
Speaking after his semi-final, parts of which he described as ‘torture’, Draper — who is coached by Kyle Edmund’s former coach Ryan Jones — admitted: ‘I can’t feel my legs. Apart from that, yeah, I’m overwhelmed by it all.’
In tennis circles, the name Draper is nothing new. Jack’s father, Roger, was chief executive of the LTA between 2006 and 2013, during which time his mission was to revive the British game and nurture future Wimbledon champions. That raison d’etre related to the nation, of course, but if his son can win today, he will have found one in his own family.
Yet, while Jack is likely to have a small army of family and friends cheering him on in the stands today, it is understood his father will not be there, due to their relationship having become strained.
‘He will probably not (be there). He will be working, I’m sure,’ the youngster said of his father.
Meanwhile, it was not to be for the British boys’ doubles pairing of James Story, 17, and Harry Wendelken, 16, who lost 7-6, 7-6 in the semi-finals last night.