Jack Draper worked with Frances Tiafoe's former coach in recent months, but a day before the US Open started, the Brit announced that he had parted ways with Wayne Ferreira.
Tiafoe experienced some of his best career moments under former player Ferreira. The American seemed to be an amazing fit with the former ATP player, who coached him to become one of the stronger players.
Despite all of their great success together, they parted ways eventually, with Draper then working with Ferreira. That was earlier this year when the two started working together, and under the South African, the Brit played some great tennis.
He earned big wins, such as the one over Carlos Alcaraz at the Queen's Club, and continued to progress on his journey. Ferreira asked Draper to play more aggressively in line with his big forehand and big serve, and it worked out well.
The problem for Draper was that he never really had two voices on his team. His longtime coach, James Trotman, gave him input, and Ferreira as well, and it became a bit too much.
It was a setup he was not really used to, and ultimately, he realized that he just wanted one voice, and that voice was that of his coach, Trotman.
"I've never had that team dynamic before where I've got two different voices and two different coaches and I always wanted Trots to be the one leading what I was doing."
"I just felt like it was not as simple as I liked and I wanted one voice in my team and I feel like it was probably the right thing to part ways with Wayne and keep it how I want it as a player."
Even though he didn't keep Ferreira on board, the Brit doesn't regret bringing him on because he learned a lot from the former player. They're not parting on a bad note, and Draper likes him as a person and will count him as a friend in the future.
"That being said my time with Wayne has been amazing, I've learned a lot. I sort of got a lot of value from him. I think he's an amazing guy and one who will continue to be a friend."
The split mostly comes down to ideological differences. It's clear that Ferreira saw Draper a certain way, while he probably sees him more in the vision of his coach Trotman, and that's where the disconnect happened.
"Some of that is the way Wayne saw my game, and also a lot of it was the fact that I had to come through some tough losses, experiences where I've been losing 7-6 in the third and not taking it to the opponent."
"I think that was good timing with Wayne. I'm a different player and I'm constantly trying to be a different player to evolve and get better as a player."
The timing might be odd, but it seems like Draper decided this a while ago, so it probably won't affect him too much heading into the 2024 US Open.
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