Last Halloween, Jack Draper was on his way to winning the modest Bergamo Challenger and slowly rising his ranking from 91st to 82nd.
As the pumpkin carving begins this year, Draper picked up another trophy in another major European city, but this time it was the much more prestigious Vienna Open and this morning he rose as world number 15.
It is the biggest title of Draper’s career, which he won by beating Russian Karen Khachanov 6-4, 7-5, and then vowed that 2025 will be the year he chases Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
He also looked towards Bergamo and, when asked what force had driven his astonishing rise in the 12 months since, answered: anger.
“Tennis is brutal,” said the 22-year-old. “I was injured for a couple of months, my ranking dropped completely and I went back to playing Challengers. I felt angry. I wasn’t happy with where I was. I was working hard but things weren’t clicking.
Jack Draper (pictured) beat Russian Karen Khachanov 6-4, 7-5 to win the Vienna Open
Draper, 22, rose to 15th in the world rankings after his victory at the tournament in Austria.
Vienna Open victory marks Draper’s (left) biggest career win to date
“I was very motivated to see the players at these big events and I knew that if I could get my body and mind in a good place, then my tennis would be good enough to face the best players in the world.
“I won my first title in Stuttgart and since then it’s been a snowball effect.”
That victory in Stuttgart in June made Draper British number one but, as Andy Murray almost angrily commented, being the best player on these islands should be far from the limit of young Jack’s ambitions.
He reached a first Grand Slam semi-final at the US Open (only stopped by a vomiting attack and eventual champion Sinner) and here he had another milestone: a second ATP title and at the 500 level, just below the Masters events.
“The US Open was huge to really start believing that I belonged at the highest level, that I’m good enough to compete with the best players in the world and win these matches. I’ve visualized these moments and really tried to believe that I’m good enough.” good to be here.”
Draper is a modest soul, but that quiet self-confidence grows week by week. With the season almost over (Draper is likely to finish his year after this week’s Paris Masters; he will play Czech Jiri Lehecka on Tuesday), he was looking ahead to 2025.
‘I am very happy with my progress this year. I’ll focus on next week and then I’ll hope to have some free time and not think about tennis because it’s been a long year and it’s taken a lot for me.
“I’ll upgrade and go into next year with even more motivation to chase those guys at the top of the game, like Sinner and Alcaraz.”
As Draper said, his body has taken some hits in what has effectively been his first full season on tour, and this title seemed unlikely after an abdominal injury in Tokyo last month.
But he worked his way into the week and by the time the final came around, he was too good for Khachanov, who was riding an eight-fight winning streak after his title in Almaty, Khazakstan.
From 5-4 in the first set, Draper effectively took the match by winning 20 of the next 23 points and five games in a row. Khachanov fought against a good rearguard, but Draper closed to 5-5.
Draper wants to set his sights on tennis’ biggest stars, including Carloz Alcarez and Jannik Sinner
“I knew coming here I was in good shape, but I wasn’t really sure what my body was like,” Draper admitted. “I’m very proud of what I’ve accomplished this week.”
In the semi-final against Lorenzo Musetti, Draper used his big forehand to hit the Italian’s backhand one-handed. Then against Khachanov he performed a volte face, redirecting his weapons to the Russian’s right wing.
Executing such different game plans in consecutive games shows how clearly Draper is thinking right now and how skillfully his team, led by coach James Trottman, is composing its tactics.
World number 24 Karen Khachanov (pictured) played a good match in Vienna, but Draper was simply too much for the Russian.
Draper said after his Vienna Open victory that he will “focus on next week and then hope to have a little bit of time off and not think about tennis.”
The first serve was incredibly good, with 69 percent and 80 percent of those points won. From what Draper said afterwards, it appears that adjustments to his serving motion made under the auspices of Wayne Ferreira when he briefly joined the coaching staff this summer have been abandoned.
“My service has really improved over the last month,” Draper said. “I made some changes and it didn’t really work, so I worked on my ball delivery, got my rhythm together and found a really golden (method).” Hopefully I can maintain that consistently.”
The tinkering continues: the calibrations of mind, game and body, the incremental progress toward the highest level.
This was another important step in Draper’s career and once this week’s event in Paris is completed, he will look ahead to 2025 with high expectations.