Jack Draper, who hails from Ashtead, a village 18 miles south of London, England, has garnered much attention as he prepares for his semi-final match in the U.S. Open against Italian Jannik Sinner, the number one ranked singles tennis player in the world, according to the Association of Tennis Professionals.
“I take every match as it comes and I respect every player no matter what their ranking is,” Draper said in an interview on Sky Sports on Thursday, Sept. 5, with former British tennis player Tim Henman.
2024 has been dubbed the 22-year-old’s “breakout year” by Sky Sports after the left-handed player won his first ever ATP Tour title in Stuttgart, Germany, in June, and shortly afterwards became the number one ranked tennis player in the U.K.
“Winning Stuttgart was a huge moment for me,” said Draper. “It made me a lot more confident in my own skin and really made me believe that by beating the players that I beat, especially to win the tournament, I felt like I belonged a lot more at the really highest level.”
Here’s what to know about the British tennis star.
What is Jack Draper’s ranking?
Draper, who began playing professional tennis in 2018, is currently ranked as the 25th best singles tennis player in the world, per the Association of Tennis Professionals. He is ranked as number one within the U.K., according to Lawn Tennis Association, which governs the sport of tennis in Great Britain.
What is Jack Draper’s net worth?
Draper has accumulated a total of $2,914,754 in career prize money since he turned pro in 2018, according to the U.S. Open website.
The athlete also has sponsorship arrangements with Nike, Dunlop, and Vodafone, according to the Evening Standard, and should he win the tournament, he could collect an additional $2.6 million in prize money on top of the $1 million he secured by making it to the semi-finals.
What do we know about Jack Draper’s parents?
It’s not known if Draper has a girlfriend or partner, but we do know about his immediate family. Draper’s father, Roger Draper, is a prominent sports executive who served as the managing director of the Lawn Tennis Association between 2006 and 2013. He also served as the chief executive of Sport England, a non-departmental body of the British government, from 2003 to 2006.
Meanwhile, the rising British athlete’s mother, Nicky Draper, was a junior tennis champion herself and currently works as a tennis coach at a school, according to the BBC.
“He’s done absolutely amazing. You know, he’s put in so much hard work over the years and it’s been years and years of work and you don’t always get the rewards straight away,” she told BBC Radio Surrey on Sept. 5. “I always say you can’t make a tennis player, it has to come from within.”
The post What to Know About Jack Draper, the British Tennis Player Dominating the U.S. Open appeared first on TIME.
