Jack Draper came of age on Arthur Ashe Stadium on Wednesday afternoon, becoming the first British male to reach the US Open semi-finals since Andy Murray broke his grand slam duck here in 2012.
The 22-year-old Draper has felt like a well-kept tennis secret for the past couple of years, even though his peers have repeatedly tipped him as a serious contender.
Now the secret is out in the open, after Draper ousted 10th seed Alex de Minaur by a 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 scoreline, so maintaining his perfect record of not having dropped a set at this tournament.
It was another thunderous performance from Draper, who has raised his level with each successive round. At the same time, though, there were reasons to feel anxious about his physical condition. He needed a visit from the trainer, who strapped up his right thigh early in the second set.
It was a curious match in the sense that both men looked to be battling their bodies at different stages. De Minaur has been carrying a hip-cartilage problem since Wimbledon, and as he said earlier in the event, “Sometimes I wake up feeling better, some days I wake up a little bit worse.”
This appeared to be one of the worse days, as De Minaur barely hit any serves in his pre-match warm-up, and looked to be struggling to get up to his ball-toss during the match. His first-serve percentage has been low throughout this tournament, and today he only made 52 per cent – too low a figure to stop Draper from breaking him a mighty six times in the match.
The early stages found De Minaur gifting easy mistakes as he lost eight of the first nine points, including four unforced errors. He lifted from there but never quite settled into the relentless rhythm that had seen off the other British hope Dan Evans in the third round.
Draper, however, played his part in making De Minaur feel uncomfortable. He served 11 aces, bending the ball like a banana out to De Minaur’s backhand, and hit his forehand like a kicking horse.
It’s interesting to note that, after five rounds, not a single one of Draper’s opponents has come away with a positive ratio of winners to unforced errors – which is the easiest way to measure performance levels numerically.
Draper has had a generous dollop of luck, what with De Minaur feeling his hip, and his first-round opponent Zhang Zhizhen retiring with a knee injury. There was also a Carlos Alcaraz-shaped hole in the third round, after the reigning Wimbledon champion suffered a career-worst defeat to unheralded Dutchman Botic van der Zandschulp.
But there can be no doubt that Draper has discombobulated his opponents. Even if his first-serve percentage has been no better than moderate across the event, at 54 per cent, he has come up with big serves whenever he has needed them, saving 25 of 28 break points overall. That takes him near to 90 per cent, whereas the second-best figure in the tournament is Ben Shelton’s 79.
And then there is Draper’s shot selection during rally play. He has picked his moments to perfection, keeping enough length and depth to keep the other guy honest, while mixing in huge haymaking winners just often enough to frighten them. The combination has left people unsure whether to stick or twist, with the result that they have ended up spraying errors. De Minaur came away with 30 of them, which made this comfortably his worst performance of the event.
Draper took nothing for granted. He had new rackets delivered early in the third set as if he was expecting to be there for five hours rather than the actual match duration of two hours and seven minutes.
His coach James Trotman also played an excellent supporting role, constantly chivvying away at him to take the initiative and go hard at De Minaur. In the worrying moments late in the second set, when Draper appeared to be feeling that thigh issue, the microphones picked up Trotman saying: “What a great challenge this is. I back your ball-strike against his, mate.”
There was certainly an extra margin to Draper’s shots, especially on the forehand side, where he imparts an almost Nadal-esque payload of top-and side-spin. It takes a lot of physical effort to generate that sort of torque, and the fact that he was able to maintain that throughout the match will raise hopes that the thigh is not too serious an issue.
Draper didn’t sound too bothered about his body during his on-court interview with Brad Gilbert, the former American pro who coached Coco Gauff to last year’s US Open title.
“It’s amazing,” said Draper. “Honestly, to be out here for my first match on the biggest court in the world, it’s a dream come true for me. It means the world.
“I think I played a solid match. I feel the best fitness-wise I’ve been in a long, long time and I think that’s where Alex has got me in the past. I also think he was maybe struggling a bit today with something which may have helped me a little bit. But credit to Alex: he’s an amazing fighter and an unbelievable player and we’re going to have many more battles to come.”
While Murray may be the last British man to reach the US Open semi-finals, there was of course a British woman who won the tournament in 2021. And there is an unmistakable echo of Raducanu’s feat in the way Draper has cruised through this draw so quietly and clinically, like a shark chasing down his prey.
Three years ago, it was Raducanu who lifted the title without dropping a set. But she never faced a top-ten opponent, as her detractors are always quick to point out. With this win over world No10 De Minaur, Draper has announced his own arrival to the big-time.
Draper marches into US Open semi-finals, as it happened