Four-time major champion Jim Courier has tipped Jack Draper to be the player to challenge the total dominance of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
The pair have split the season’s four grand slam titles between them for the last two years running, contesting three of the past four slam finals, and the enormous gap between them and the rest of the ATP Tour has only widened in recent months.
Sinner defended his ATP Finals title against Alcaraz in the final earlier this month, with none of the other top players remotely close to their level in Turin.
But former world No 1 Courier believes Draper – the British No 1 and current world No 10 – could be the one to bridge the gap.
The 23-year-old finished the year inside the top 10 despite having not played a competitive match since August, as injury disrupted the end of his season.
But he reached two Masters 1000 finals, winning his maiden title at that level at Indian Wells in March, and achieved a career-high ranking of world No 4.
“I’m going to put my money down on Jack Draper,” Courier said on Tennis Channel this week.
“If he’s healthy as he’s shown us at Indian Wells, he can play with the big boys. He’s got big weapons with his leftie serve, his forehand is massive, he just needs health.
“His arm went out on him after Wimbledon this year. He had a bone bruise stress fracture, we haven’t seen enough of him, but it sounds like from listening to some podcasts with him it seems like he’s going to be back and ready to go for some [exhibitions] in the off-season and get back into it.
“We’ll see if Jack can do it — he’s been to a semi-final at the US Open in 2024.”
Draper will make his return to official competition at the United Cup, a mixed-gender team event in Australia at the beginning of next season.
