Jack Draper remembers Jannik Sinner being the weak link on court when they first played, but the British number one knows it will be a different matter in their US Open semi-final.
Draper became the first British man to reach the last four in New York since Andy Murray did it on his way to the 2012 title when he beat Alex de Minaur on Wednesday.
While the 22-year-old’s breakthrough run was aided by Carlos Alcaraz’s early exit, he now faces the toughest task possible against the world number one in a blockbusting semi-final on Arthur Ashe on Friday.
It is a long way from their first battle in an under-18s double match where the Italian was targeted.
“The first time I met Jannik was, we were in an under-18 tournament,” Draper said. “I think I played him in the doubles in a Grade 1 ITF.
“It has been strange following his journey because when he was younger, he was probably not one of the best juniors.
“I remember playing him in doubles, and we were saying, ‘oh, hit to him because he’s not the best player on the court’.
“Then, obviously, watching his progress to really getting to the top 20 very quickly when all of us were kind of 300, 400 in the world.
Locked in for Friday! pic.twitter.com/Cn94O3e4pi
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 5, 2024
“I’ve obviously followed him and always think he’s really well mannered and an amazing guy and good for the sport.
“Obviously his tennis is incredible too. Jannik is a good friend, someone I’m definitely close to.
“We send each other messages in good moments, bad moments. It’s a tough sport to play when you’re a young guy.”
Sinner has clearly progressed a lot since that under-18s double match, reaching world number one and winning the Australian Open this year.
While not being able to remember the match Draper refers to, he did speak warmly about the Briton, who he played doubles with in a recent event in Montreal.
“In juniors, I was never good,” he said. “I don’t remember playing against him in doubles, but I do remember seeing him from outside.
“Obviously a lefty, his ball striking was always very, very good.
“It was nice to share the court with him in doubles in Montreal. You know, we got to know each other even more.
“We text each other when we have good or bad times, trying to keep us up. It’s a great friendship.
“Obviously we try to put this away for the hours we are on court. I think that’s quite obvious. But whenever we shake our hands, it’s again friendship back and all is going to be good.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel