From Indian Wells champion to world No. 143: What happened to Jack Draper?
ATPTuesday, 11 August 2026 at 22:00
A little over a year ago, Jack Draper was one of the fastest-rising stars in men's tennis. The Brit had won Indian Wells, reached the US Open semifinals and broken into the world's top five. Now, at 24, he is ranked No. 143 and once again battling to get his career back on track.
Today, the picture is dramatically different. Draper is ranked No. 143 in the world and has played only a handful of tournaments over the past year, with repeated injuries interrupting every attempt to build momentum. What once looked like a meteoric rise has turned into one of the most frustrating careers of his generation, defined as much by physical setbacks as by elite-level performances.
The contrast is particularly striking because Draper had finally seemed to overcome the durability problems that had followed him since his teenage years. His breakthrough in 2024 and early 2025 suggested that he had found the consistency required to compete at the highest level, combining powerful left-handed shot-making with improved movement and tactical maturity across all surfaces.
As the North American hard-court swing unfolds, the question surrounding Draper is no longer simply whether he can return to the top 10. It is whether one of Britain’s most gifted players can finally stay healthy long enough to fulfill the potential that has surrounded him since he was first identified as a future successor to Andy Murray.
Jack Draper - Then and now
| Then | Now |
| World No. 4 | World No. 143 |
| Indian Wells champion | First-round Canadian Open exit |
| US Open semifinalist | Fighting back from injury |
| Multiple Masters 1000 finals | Six tournaments in a year |
| Established top-five player | Trying to return to top 100 |
The prodigy who was tipped as Britain’s next great hope
Draper was identified from a young age as a potential successor to Andy Murray, producing outstanding results throughout his junior career. He reached No. 7 in the ITF junior rankings and made the 2018 Wimbledon boys’ final, where he lost to Tseng Chun-hsin.
The Brit, now 24, has spent much of his career balancing exceptional talent with recurring injury problems. Even during his ATP Tour debut at the 2021 Miami Open, he was forced to retire during his first-round match against Mikhail Kukushkin because of injury.
A few months later, Draper was already collecting ATP-level victories, including his first top-25 win against Jannik Sinner, then ranked No. 23, at Queen’s Club. The result made him the youngest British semifinalist at the tournament since Andy Murray in 2006 and lifted him into the top 250 for the first time.
From that point, Draper’s rise became increasingly rapid, although constantly interrupted by physical setbacks. That same year, at just 19, he made his Wimbledon debut against Novak Djokovic and even took a set from the Serbian before Djokovic recovered to win the match.
A breakthrough repeatedly interrupted
The following years brought a steady climb through the rankings. Draper announced himself on the biggest stage at the 2022 Canadian Open by reaching his first Masters 1000 quarterfinal. He also earned his first Grand Slam main-draw victories and defeated several top-10 opponents, but injuries again disrupted his progress and forced him to miss a significant portion of the season.
He still finished 2022 inside the top 50 at No. 42, a sign of how quickly he was progressing despite the interruptions. However, 2023 followed a similar pattern, with long absences followed by promising returns that were again cut short by injury.
Draper’s career became a recurring cycle of rehabilitation and strong performances. He reached his first ATP final at the Sofia Open, where he lost to Adrian Mannarino, and experienced dramatic swings in the rankings, starting the year near the top 40, falling outside the top 100 and eventually climbing back toward the top 60 despite playing relatively few tournaments.
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The year Draper became a genuine contender
The real breakthrough came in 2024, when Draper showed that he was not merely an intriguing prospect but a genuine world-class player when healthy. He reached three ATP finals and won his first two tour titles at the Stuttgart Open and the Vienna Open.
The second half of the season elevated him into a new category of player. He climbed into the top 15, became a seed at Grand Slams and Masters 1000 events, and began to look like a regular contender at the sport’s biggest tournaments.
His best Grand Slam run came at the US Open, where he reached the semifinals before losing to eventual champion Jannik Sinner. It was the clearest indication yet that a confident and healthy Draper could contend deep into major tournaments, and at only 22 years old, expectations for the following seasons became enormous.
The injury that changed everything
Draper carried that momentum into an outstanding start to 2025. He reached the final of the ATP 500 event in Doha, advanced to the fourth round of the Australian Open and then achieved the biggest title of his career by winning Indian Wells, defeating Holger Rune in the final to claim his first Masters 1000 crown.
The victory lifted him into the ATP top five and established him as one of the leading players in the Race for much of the season. He also proved his versatility on clay by reaching the Madrid Open final, his second Masters 1000 final, where he lost to Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Just as Draper was beginning to look like one of the few players capable of consistently challenging the Sinner-Alcaraz duopoly, injuries returned. A physical problem emerged during the grass-court swing, compromised his Wimbledon campaign as the fourth seed and contributed to a surprise second-round defeat to Marin Cilic.
The situation became even more serious in the following days, when the injury was confirmed to be severe enough to keep him out for roughly two months. After nearly a year of sustained progress and relative physical stability, Draper’s momentum disappeared almost overnight. He returned in time for the US Open but was forced to retire before playing his second-round match.
Jack Draper during the US Open.
A career still waiting for continuity
Since then, Draper has attempted several comebacks, but none has lasted for long. Over the past year, he has played only six tournaments and recorded just nine victories. He first spent nearly six months away from competition before returning in February, only to suffer another injury a few weeks later that led to another two-month absence.
His next return came at the Eastbourne International, where he reached the semifinals and briefly looked capable of rebuilding momentum. However, the physical demands again caught up with him, resulting in another injury that ruled him out of Wimbledon and extended his absence by another six weeks.
More recently, Draper returned at the Canadian Open but was eliminated in the first round by Terence Atmane. The left-hander now sits at No. 143 in the rankings, largely because of the limited number of tournaments he has been able to play, and the seasons continue to pass without him sustaining top-level tennis for an extended period.
At 24, Draper is no longer viewed simply as a young prospect but as an established player whose career has been repeatedly shaped by injuries. When physically fit, he still looks capable of threatening players such as Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, but durability remains the biggest obstacle to fulfilling that potential.
Jack Draper by the numbers
| Statistic | Peak |
| Career-high ranking | No. 4 |
| Masters 1000 titles | 1 |
| US Open semifinals | 1 |
| ATP titles | 2 |
| Current ranking | No. 143 |
| Tournaments played in past year | 6 |
| Wins in that period | 9 |
Draper recently brought Andy Murray into his coaching team for the grass-court swing, yet that partnership was interrupted almost immediately by another injury setback. His main objective is now the US Open and the remainder of the North American hard-court swing, with hopes of rebuilding his ranking, returning to the top 100 and eventually entering the biggest tournaments directly rather than through qualifying, reducing the physical strain that has repeatedly derailed his career.
There is an almost full-circle element to Draper's current situation. Murray was once viewed as the player whose place he could eventually inherit as Britain's leading men's star. Now, Murray has joined Draper's coaching team as the 24-year-old tries to rescue his career from another injury setback.
Draper has already shown that he has the game to beat the best in the world. The question now is much simpler — and potentially much harder to answer: can his body finally allow him to do it consistently?
Cristhián AvilaTennis Journalist
Cristhián Ávila is a tennis journalist based in Santiago, Chile, and has been part of the TennisUpToDate team since early 2023. He covers the ATP and WTA Tours as well as all four Grand Slams, producing breaking news, match reports, analysis, and regular liveblogs from major tournaments.
His reporting combines statistical analysis with clear explanation, helping readers understand tactical developments, player form, and broader storylines across the tour. Working fluently in both Spanish and English, Cristhián collaborates with an international editorial team and contributes to comprehensive global coverage. As part of his work, he has conducted interviews and media interactions with leading figures in the sport, including Caroline Wozniacki and John McEnroe.
In his journalism, Cristhián places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available. His coverage is grounded in research, context, and direct engagement with professional tennis.
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