NEW YORK — This might not have been the most thrilling way for Jack Draper to reach a first Grand Slam semifinal, but it felt pretty fitting.
His early career was bedevilled by injuries, but Draper’s run to the last four at the U.S. Open has been defined by his ability to outlast his opponents. He’s yet to drop a set, so this is hardly a series of marathon matches. In the first round, Zhang Zhizhen had to retire in the third set due to injury; in the third, Botic van de Zandschulp looked mentally and physically fried after beating Carlos Alcaraz; and in Wednesday’s quarterfinal, Alex de Minaur was a way off his usual physical level.
Draper, who took a medical timeout to deal with a right hamstring issue in the second set, took full advantage of the Australian’s struggles in a 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 win.
It was a strange match. Word that de Minaur had cut his practice short because of a lack of fitness was all over the Billie Jean King Tennis Center. The Australian withdrew from Wimbledon at the quarterfinal stage because of a nasty looking hip injury, and hadn’t been expected to play this event at all, let alone make the quarterfinals.
De Minaur, No, 10 seed in New York, still relies heavily on his speed and movement, despite adding more heft and aggression to his tennis in the past 12 months. He lacked his usual zip in the opening stages, and even though he exchanged breaks with Draper at the start of the first set, he promptly gave up his serve again. Draper was away.
GO DEEPER
Britain wants Jack Draper to be its tennis hero, but he’s feeling himself in New York
In the second set, Draper called for the trainer to get to work on his right hamstring when already a break up. He didn’t seem badly affected, holding to love for 3-1 immediately after the consultation, and then forcing a break point on the De Minaur serve which he couldn’t take. De Minaur went on to save seven of the nine break points he faced in the second set.
This resilience made what looked like it would be a straightforward set much more complicated, and Draper was ultimately broken himself. He managed to break again in the twelfth game, to win the set 7-5 and give himself the cushion of a 2-0 lead.
At times, Draper looked a little unsure of how to deal with an opponent who wasn’t quite right. He hit some effective drop shots, but also made some uncharacteristic errors, as he tried to get the balance right between exploiting his opponent’s difficulties and just playing his normal game. Draper has made many changes to his tennis during his transformational summer, but the most significant has been learning to impose himself more in matches.
The third set was less troublesome. A clearly ailing de Minaur dropped his serve twice more, and Draper served it out after a little more than two hours. Having lost all three of his previous meetings with De Minaur, Draper turned things around on Wednesday.
Alex de Minaur was way off his usual physical level. (Timothy A. Clary / AFP via Getty Images)
After a hugely efficient tournament so far, Draper is through to the semifinals without dropping a set. The last British winner here, Emma Raducanu, took that form all the way to her title in 2021, winning the trophy with a perfect set score of 14-0. 20-0, including her three qualifying matches. And although Draper remains a big underdog to reach the final, given his next opponent will be either the world No. 1 Jannik Sinner or former champion Daniil Medvedev, this already feels like a breakthrough tournament.
Perhaps most impressive is his proactive embrace of physicality, something which has previously hampered his progress as a player. Draper said earlier in the summer that his body had been “made of glass” in previous years, as he looked back on a 2023 in which he was frequently sidelined with multiple shoulder injuries.
The years prior had been stop-start too, and on the eve of this match, his coach James Trotman described 2024 as Draper’s first full year on the tour. First year or not really, at 22, Daper is delivering on his rich potential. By winning here, he becomes the first Brit in the U.S. Open semifinals since a guy called Andy Murray did it in 2012. He ended up winning the whole thing that year. Draper, this summer anointed as Murray’s successor, is less carrying the torch and more running with it.
From made of glass, to almost the last man standing.
(Top photo: Sarah Stier / Getty Images)
