Love Jack and really wish him well. Got so much to appreciate about him.
Just a bit worried about how often he breaks down with injuries. He struggles to get through more than a couple of matches. I know Andy had a few problems when he was young but I'm a bit concerned he's like Katie Swan and Katie Boulter and even Emma in that they can't play enough matches and tournaments in a row to get anywhere. He seemed to have solved it at the beginning of the year after his training block when he won four Challengers but it seems to be creeping back with these niggling injuries.
You are quite right Nix. It just seems to be accepted that he is young and finding his way. Growing into it and toughening up. With Emma the reaction to the same problem seems much more "she's got to start taking her tennis seriously" You think of and 18-20 year old as being as fit as a fiddle, the demands of the tour are tough and I guess not all come out the other side of this transition(?)
The 8 playing the Next Gen Finals are confirmed by the ATP
The field for the 2022 Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals is now set. Dominic Stricker will join Lorenzo Musetti, Holger Rune, Jack Draper, Brandon Nakashima, Jiri Lehecka, Chun-Hsin Tseng and Francesco Passaro in Milan from 8-12 November.
From today's Times. This young man certainly seems to have his head screwed on the right way - or maybe is better advised & knows whom to heed...
This bit is sorta interesting:
It is actually to his advantage that he has been able to steadily improve without the same level of expectation that has been thrust upon his young compatriot
... as _his young compatriot_ has a grand slam, where this young man doesn't. She is in the top five highest paid sportspeople of her sex, and he isn't: exactly where is the advantage? Have we forgotten what we are measuring?
From today's Times. This young man certainly seems to have his head screwed on the right way - or maybe is better advised & knows whom to heed...
I hope it's Jack's mum providing advice, because I wouldn't trust his dad to put out the right colour bin this week; he'd be too busy developing a 10 year bin strategy for the Draper household, focusing on brand awareness opportunities.
From today's Times. This young man certainly seems to have his head screwed on the right way - or maybe is better advised & knows whom to heed...
This bit is sorta interesting:
It is actually to his advantage that he has been able to steadily improve without the same level of expectation that has been thrust upon his young compatriot
... as _his young compatriot_ has a grand slam, where this young man doesn't. She is in the top five highest paid sportspeople of her sex, and he isn't: exactly where is the advantage? Have we forgotten what we are measuring?
Absolutely, there's not a young tennis player around that wouldn't wish to have done what Emma did even if it meant never winning another tournament again. She'll always be in the history books as the 1st qualifier to go through the draw and win a GS, leave alone the money aspect.
The article does highlight the advantage of having atleast a couple of top players around to train with. The confidence that gives him knowing that he can compete with them and they compete at the top of the game.
From today's Times. This young man certainly seems to have his head screwed on the right way - or maybe is better advised & knows whom to heed...
I hope it's Jack's mum providing advice, because I wouldn't trust his dad to put out the right colour bin this week; he'd be too busy developing a 10 year bin strategy for the Draper household, focusing on brand awareness opportunities.
I dont know, IMO Roger D was pretty astute, he managed to keep his job as CE of the LTA on a salary of over £600k plus a bonuses for 7 years whilst being totally inept and failing to produce any top players apart from Andy M who wasnt even a product of the LTA system. Also building the NTC (at a cost of ~40 million) in a place convenient for his commute from Surrey.
Currently Jack is one of the few top British men whove not taken the college tennis route or trained outside the LTA However he does have great tennis connections and wealthy parents.but sure he would love to have done what Emma did
So in addition to winning PoS, Jack also managed to finish the year as GB#3.
Jack finished the year with the highest win rate at 71%, going 4/4 in finals, achieving a 100% sucess rate, and collecting the most titles in 2022. His rapid rise in 2022, can be seen in the make-up of tournaments he entered. In Q1, 100% of tournaments he entered were at the challenger level (5). By Q2, it was down to 43% (3 out of 7). He played none in Q3 (0 out of 6) or Q4 (0 out of 4). In the end, across the year, he accrued almost as many points in Master events (320 points) as he did in Challengers (354). He played in the fewest countries (8) - just Europe and east North America. Jack was the only player to make a year end finals event (Next Gen), making it as far as the semi finals.