‘That fuels my fire’ – Jack Draper on Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Holger Rune ‘inspiration’ and ‘admiration’

One of the dominant storylines in men’s tennis in 2023 was Novak Djokovic’s continuing battle to fend off the next generation.

The trio of Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune all earned wins over Djokovic over the course of the season as they showed they could be the future leading lights on the ATP Tour.

“The next Big Three, if you want to call them,” said Djokovic about Alcaraz, Sinner and Rune after the Nitto ATP Finals. “They’re going to carry this sport.”

Hoping to join them as one of the stars of the future is Jack Draper.

The British No. 4 had some positive results in a year disrupted by injuries, reaching his first ATP Tour final and making the last 16 at the US Open and Indian Wells.

He says he takes a lot of “inspiration” from seeing the achievements of Alcaraz, Sinner and Rune, even if it has been “frustrating” at times.

“I am happy for them because they are great young players and I understand how much you have to put into the sport, especially at an early age. I have huge respect and admiration for what they are doing.

“On the other side I remember when I was injured with my shoulder and I was watching Alcaraz play Djokovic in the Wimbledon final and it was frustrating to see a young player out there achieving amazing things, because of the competitor I am.

“Some people look at that and make excuses and say ‘you know, he’s lucky because he’s in that position or whatever’, but I understand he is in that position because he has put a hell of a lot of work in and he has done all the right things for many years.

“I think I can take a lot of inspiration and learn from a lot of things that these guys are doing, and really that fuels my fire to be in that position as well.

“It’s going to be interesting in the next couple of years if I can stay injury free and do all the right things to see if I can get up there with those guys.”

Draper is making his Ultimate Tennis Showdown debut in London this week.

Serena Williams’ former coach Patrick Mouratoglou, who is the founder of UTS, told Eurosport ahead of the event that he sees Draper as a potential future Grand Slam winner.

Asked about that possibility, Draper said: “There’s a lot of amazing players who have been and gone and haven’t won Grand Slam titles. It’s important for me not to look too far ahead.

“I speak with my coach all the time about what my goals are and all these sort of things and the main one we always come back to is you can have visions of doing great but if you’re not putting the work in and doing the right things on a day-to-day basis then it’s going to be hard to achieve what you want.

“My main goal is to fulfil my potential. If that’s to be a Grand Slam champion or to be top five or top 10 or top 20 we will see. But I do have big aspirations to be in that position one day. Fulfil my potential and then let’s see.”

Draper will be competing in the same group as Rune at the Ultimate Tennis Showdown final.

After London he will soon be heading to Australia where he will start his season in Adelaide, followed by the Australian Open.

Currently ranked at No. 61, by this time next year he hopes he can be in the top 20 in the world.

“I believe my tennis is pretty close to that but it’s about doing it on a consistent basis in competition and staying injury free,” he said.

“I really believe in my game and my team and the way I approach things. I really believe I can be a top-20 player at the end of next year if I get things right, so that’s my goal and aspiration.”

On facing Rune in London, he added: “I haven’t played him before but he’s an amazing player and has achieved amazing things already.

“He’s one of those three who have come through from the next gen along with Alcaraz and Sinner so it will be good to see how my game matches up against his.

“During the off season we work harder than we ever do during the season because it’s that time when we are not competing and we are really able to push our bodies and minds to the limit. I have had an amazing two weeks with my team and making improvements all the time.

“I feel great coming into UTS and hopefully I can show some really good tennis.”