Jack Draper ready to step up as life after Andy Murray begins at the US Open for the Brit pack – even if Emma Raducanu reckons he’s old news
Jack Draper will miss everything about having Andy Murray next to him in the locker room – apart from his smelly trainers.
Yet the 22-year-old declared himself ready to step into those large shoes and lead the British charge, here in New York City and beyond.
‘It seems a bit weird not having Andy there with his rancid, stinking shoes next to me in the locker room,’ said Draper, who begins his US Open campaign against China’s Zhizhen Zhang tomorrow. ‘Andy’s shoes would always be drying out next to me with his wedding ring on them.
‘I’ve been next to him in the locker room and you’d have his shoes, his wet grips – “Give me some space to sit down!”.
‘I do miss his presence a lot. I feel a responsibility to really play good tennis and be the British No 1. We miss Andy but things have to come to an end and hopefully I can keep on going and the other players as well.’
Jack Draper (right) admits he will miss having Andy Murray around following his retirement
Draper struck up a close friendship with Murray, highlighted by the elder man posting a clip of him celebrating a Davis Cup win last year by drinking beer and singing The Proclaimers
The British No 1 faces a tough first round at the US Open in the first post-Murray Grand Slam
Murray was unfailingly supportive of his compatriots and his fellow Brits will miss him, both as an example of Stakhanovite work rate and a font of tennis knowledge.
Draper struck up a close friendship with Murray, with the high (or low) point being a video the elder man posted of them driving back from a Davis Cup win in Manchester last year, Draper swigging beer and screaming out The Proclaimers’ I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles). ‘Kids these days. Three and a half hours of this on the way home…’ said Murray.
‘I’ll miss the camaraderie, the nonsense, the banter and the serious chats as well,’ said Draper.
‘I miss those moments in the locker room before matches when you’ve got someone as great as Andy next to you. It’s mad sitting next to one of your idols. To not have him here is difficult. Maybe one day he’ll be more around on the coaching scene.’
Katie Boulter, Draper’s fellow British No1, was singing praises from the same hymn sheet.
‘He’s been the one holding us all up and I don’t take that for granted,’ said the 28-year-old of Murray. ‘Everything he’s done for us is incredible. It put British tennis on another level and inspired so many kids – myself included.
‘Even being in the same atmosphere as him, you feel his presence, you see what he’s doing. That showed me a lot about how to work – what he did in the gym, on the court, how he operated.
‘There’s always going to be a hole in British tennis and there’s a lot of people that will fill it and hopefully I can be one of them.’
Katie Boulter, Draper’s fellow British No 1, said there is a hole following Murray’s retirement
Boutler will be hoping to cap an impressive year of progress with a run at the US Open
Emma Raducanu differed when she stated that Murray was already ‘old news’ earlier this week
Raducanu will make her return to the US Open three years after stunningly winning the title
These peans to Murray were in contrast to the earlier reaction of Emma Raducanu, who said ‘it doesn’t feel different at all’ without the great Scot, who she said was already ‘old news’.
Strange wording indeed from a young woman whose every move these days seems part of a tale of the unexpected.
Raducanu will try to spring a more conventional tennis surprise this fortnight by making a deep run at the event which she won three years ago.
The British challenge begins on Monday with German-born qualifier Jan Choinski and Harriet Dart in winnable matches.
The best chance of making the second week on paper lies with Draper, although he has a tough opener against the world No 41 and is due to face Carlos Alcaraz in the third round.
One thing he will not have to worry about is a repeat of the controversy in Cincinnati which disturbed his US Open preparations. On match point against Felix Auger-Aliassime, Draper mis-hit a volley into the ground and over the net but, in the split-second he had to make a decision, umpire Greg Allensworth awarded the point to the British player.
The US Open is continuing its trial of video reviews for such incidents and it seems only a matter of time before the system is rolled out across the tour.
Draper admitted being impacted by the fallout from the Cincinnati Open, when several professionals claimed he knew he had mishit a shot into the ground on a match point
Draper was awarded the match point and the victory with no video replays available, which will not be the case on several of the courts at the US Open over the coming fortnight
Draper admitted he had struggled with the fallout, which included some fellow professionals asserting he knew full well he hit an illegal shot.
‘I was thinking about it for four days non-stop. I was really upset by it,’ he said. ‘More important than anything is respect, fair play but in that moment, I didn’t know – that was the honest truth of it.
‘Anyone would be lying if they’re saying they’re not hurt by comments saying, “You’re a cheat, you’re a liar, I would have done this, I would have done that”.
‘It hurts more when a (fellow) player is questioning your integrity but people can say their opinions, that’s absolutely fine.
‘The ATP could really benefit from having technology like VAR to clear up all these problems.’
The whole brouhaha was Draper’s first real taste of the darker side of the tennis spotlight. And with Murray gone, that glare is only going to become more intense – starting here in the bright lights of the city that never sleeps.
