Jack Draper was born on December 22, 2001, in Sutton, England. Both of his parents were involved in tennis, with his father, Roger, a former Lawn Tennis Association executive. Draper’s mother, Nicky, also represented Great Britain at the junior level, while his brother, Ben, played tennis at the University of California-Berkeley.
Due to his early exposure to tennis, Draper started playing the sport at age three while his mother coached at a local tennis club. Growing up, the British player was influenced by Andy Murray. Draper had a strong junior career and reached the 2018 Wimbledon Boys' final but lost to Tseng Chun-hsin.
Following this run at Wimbledon, Draper finished the season ranked seventh in the junior standings. Between 2019 and 2021, Draper mostly competed at the ITF and Challenger levels. The Brit had great success at the ITF level, winning seven titles between 2018 and 2020. However, ongoing injuries prevented Draper from breaking into the ATP Tour until 2021.
Eventually, he made his ATP debut at the 2021 Miami Open as a wildcard but retired in the first round after collapsing on the court due to a heat-related illness. The British player recovered and continued to compete at ATP tour level in 2021.
At the Queen’s Club Championships, Draper reached the quarter-finals before earning a wildcard to the Wimbledon main draw. It was his first taste of Grand Slam tennis, but Draper lost in the first round to Novak Djokovic.
In 2022, Draper continued to progress at the ATP Challenger level and won four titles between January and April. Early in the season, Draper also started to show potential at some of the biggest events. He reached the second round at the 2022 Miami Open and Madrid Open before progressing to round two at Wimbledon.
To close out the 2022 campaign, Draper made it to the quarter-finals at the Canadian Open, defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas and Gael Monfils. Steady progress continued in 2023 when Draper reached the main draws at the Australian Open and the Roland Garros, but he couldn’t progress past round one.
However, ongoing injury issues led to a dip in form and early withdrawal from several tournaments and missed the entire grass season. Draper made a positive return and progressed to round four at the US Open, beating Radu Albot, Hubert Hurkacz, and Michael Mmoh.
Then, the British player reverted to the Challenger level late in 2023 and won his fifth title at this tier in Bergamo. In November, Draper was back competing on the ATP Tour and made his first career final at the Sofia Open but lost to Jan-Lennard Struff. Draper carried his positive form into the 2024 campaign and reached his second final at the Adelaide International before losing against Jiri Lehecka.
