Wimbledon's British tennis psychodrama awaits its new leading man, Jack Draper

Jack Draper is poised to take center stage at Wimbledon, potentially becoming the new beacon of hope for British tennis after Andy Murray. As the world No. 4 and being seeded No. 4 for the tournament, punters may consider betting on him to advance to later rounds, especially if he can handle the immense pressure of the home crowd, reminiscent of Murray's earlier triumphs.

Draper, who has shown promise with a strong game and rich tennis background, will be under scrutiny to perform well at Wimbledon, where he has yet to make a significant impact despite a stellar career trajectory.

Just as Murray succeeded four-time semifinalist Tim Henman in 2005, Draper, who will be seeded No. 4 when Wimbledon starts June 30, is about to step into a national sporting psychodrama like few others.

His challenge is about more than just tennis. He will bear the hopes of a sporting nation, alongside the England women’s football team’s title defense at the European Championship. Murray’s 2013 win, which ended a 77-year drought in men’s singles, took over the national consciousness.

For a player who stands at 6ft 4ins (193cm) with a swinging leftie serve, good variety, and easy power, Draper’s Wimbledon results are yet to inspire. Since he swaggered to the boys’ final aged 16 in 2018, Draper has won just two matches, never going beyond the second round. Last year, a second-round match against Norrie looked set to be his coronation. He lost in straight sets.

Other than winning a Grand Slam, delivering at Wimbledon is the last big question Draper has to answer. “Nothing compares to the pressure of being the nation’s favorite there,” said one experienced figure in British tennis, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships. “Jack will have to learn how to deal with that — he’s not yet had his big Wimbledon moment, that baptism.”

Draper, 23, was seemingly born for this. His mother was a national junior champion, his father once ran the Lawn Tennis Association, and his grandmother was a coach. Raised in Surrey and educated at the private Reed’s School (like Henman), he fits the mould of a British tennis star: polished, well-spoken, even an IMG model and face of Burberry.

Compared to Murray, who always felt a bit of an outsider to the tennis establishment, Draper could be straight out of central casting. At Queen’s, he called the crowd “my people” and joked about playing on the renamed Andy Murray Arena: “Can’t get rid of this guy.”

But ever since he lost to Alexander Bublik at the French Open three weeks ago, the Wimbledon countdown has been on. “I don’t know what to expect. I feel confident. I feel happy,” he said of the potential pressure after that defeat.

Draper also referenced his vomiting on court in the past, including during September’s U.S. Open defeat to world No. 1 Jannik Sinner. Consulting a breathing coach has helped Draper stay calm in big matches, and he added that the upset in New York was caused by painkillers unsettling his stomach.

Henman, who carried British hopes for almost a decade, downplays the supposed burden. “I loved it, absolutely loved it,” Henman told reporters a few weeks ago. He studiously avoided the newspapers, which he said blocked out the noise. “That’s where I feel so confident that Jack will revel in it and embrace the support,” Henman said. “If he can avoid paying attention to all that (external) stuff he’ll be in a good place.”

Both men have said that these pressurized situations are the fun part of tennis. “Think about all the hard work, doing 400 metres on the track and it’s just horrible,” Henman said. “You’re doing that to play in the biggest events. And we’re so fortunate that we’ve got Wimbledon in this country.”

Murray echoed the sentiment during his famous on-court interview after a 2012 final loss to Roger Federer: “Everybody always talks about the pressure of playing at Wimbledon, how tough it is ... The people watching make it so much easier to play — they make it incredible.”

Konta, who reached the semifinals in 2017, said in a news conference then that “pressure is self-imposed.” She also credited the crowd with helping her to a memorable quarterfinal win over Simona Halep. Norrie described how “huge” the crowd were during his 2022 run in an interview last week, while former world No. 38 Heather Watson said in a news conference earlier this month that her near-upset of Serena Williams in the 2015 third round gave her goosebumps. Even Williams said she’d never seen a crowd like it.

That crowd can be a double-edged sword, however. Greg Rusedski, who reached the quarterfinals in 1997, said that the support is invaluable when things are going well, but that when a player is struggling, “there couldn’t be a worse situation.”

“You have to let the crowd make the noise to help you, but you’ve got to execute in those situations as well,” he said in a phone interview last week. “If you don’t then it can have the reverse effect, because they’ll go from a high to a lull quite quickly. “It’s about knowing how to orchestrate the crowd — Henman used the fist pump. It wasn’t natural, but he used it. Murray used his emotion, anger and competitiveness to get the crowd to help him.”

Draper believes he can find that way, having played against Australians and Frenchmen at their home Grand Slams this year. In some of those wins, especially against the mercurial Gaël Monfils in Paris, he has shown how to work a stadium, asking for noise even from adversarial crowds.

While he won’t necessarily tap Henman and Murray up for advice, he remembers them always saying that the pressure at Wimbledon was outweighed by the home support. Thriving in the Wimbledon atmosphere as a British player is a singular challenge, but Draper spoke at Queen’s of it being a “privilege,” not a burden.

After 30 years of Henman and Murray, the next act of this British sporting drama is ready to begin.

Draper has all the tennis tools to succeed at his home major, but being British at Wimbledon is a test of character like few in sports.

Theathleticuk