"That inner confidence you need to challenge the best, he's been building to it": Henman and Robson marvel at Jack Draper's improvement

Summing up the season for Sky Sports including on Emma Raducanu and Amanda Anisimova among others, Laura Robson and Tim Henman as part of the experts piece also touched upon the top Brit in Jack Draper.

Draper started the season impeccably with the Brit winning Indian Wells and reached the top five in the world. After injury issues blighted his past few seasons amid obvious talent, he was finally on the road to making the gains he wanted to.

Albeit he had to curtail his season post Wimbledon with injury taking its toll and he couldn't play the US Open. An arm injury finally stopped it in September and although he managed to make strides this year, it was very much strides with the added extra that perhaps he didn't need or want with injury.

But Laura Robson was effusive in the praise she gave Draper amid what he has been working on during the off season to lead up to the best year of his life. That included not only in game but also it included the facet that he has the belief now to challenge the best in the world including Sinner and Alcaraz which given the current state of tennis is very much easier said than done that is for sure.

"I think he's playing even more aggressively and using his strengths more. It was an area he was working on during the off season, knowing when to try and come forward. It's not something that we've seen from him over the years and to do it on multiple surfaces, making the final of Madrid, playing the same sort of brand of tennis as we saw in Indian Wells and to see him find that belief, that inner confidence that you need to challenge the best in the world - he's been building to it," said Robson to Sky Sports.

While Robson agreed that he'd made improvements and that he had been using his game more in 2025, Jonathan Overend who is a commentator for Sky Sports also assessed his grass court run and said that even though he has reached World No.4 the sky is further the limit for him. "Even though he had a decent go at Queen's, he felt all through that run he wasn't playing at his best. Even though he's been to number four in the world, there are still improvements he can make."

But Tim Henman also chimed in that his best surface is in fact hard courts and that his game suits it over perhaps thinking it would be grass of course being a British player and it being what the vast majority of Brits play on growing up.

While that might be the case, Draper especially with his exceptional win at Indian Wells and also his consistent runs at the US Open has shown that in reality it is in fact hard courts that are

"Hard-courts are his best surface. We saw that at Indian Wells and the US Open. You think, where's he going to transition better to? You think it would be grass, but it was clay. The tennis he played in Madrid was incredible. Just going for it, playing so aggressively. He does have experience of playing on grass but it's also his movement. He's a big guy and he's very physical. I think he just needs to learn the subtleties of grass. How to defend, how to move, which I'm sure will come. And being a lefty! The way that he's improved his serve, the way he can use that one out wide in the ad box [left side] and perhaps serve and volley a little bit, it's another attribute."