Now 23 and looking ahead into a seventh professional season, Draper is cautiously hungry for more. But one stumbling block continues to be in his way: Though his resume of achievements has yet to enter Murray territory, his injuries have similarly mounted. Draper is to miss United Cup and Davis Cup at the beginning of 2025 due to a hip injury, and hopes to be healthy for the Australian Open.
Hopefully, the calendar works in favor of his recovery so that Britain’s newest mark can snag a few more titles under his belt and perhaps see a second Grand Slam semifinal run–minus the vomit, ideally.
“This is my first proper year, I’d say, because of all my injuries and all my setbacks, so I’m a few years behind almost,” Draper said at the US Open during the summer. “I think I just need to keep on learning, keep on growing, keep on having situations like today where I came unstuck and, you know, how am I going to do it different next time and all these types of things.”