Jack Draper is aiming to keep up with Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner as he begins his Dubai campaign on Monday.
The British number one has been out of action for six months but made his tennis return earlier this month at the Davis Cup in Norway.
Now, Draper will make his ATP tour return in Dubai ahead of his Indian Wells title defence next month.
Despite outside noise from the media and fans on what he could be achieving Draper isn’t fazed by the pressure as he aims for success in 2026, “It’s a privilege to be in the position,” Draper was quoted by tennis365 as saying to The Khaleej Times.
“Obviously, now, I have a bit of an injury setback. But truthfully, since I was a young boy, all I wanted to do was to be the best tennis player in the world.
“To do that, you have to deal with not just the tennis and your opponent, but also you have to deal with, you know, the outside noise, the pressure, all these things, and if you can’t, then you shouldn’t be doing it. So I’m very fortunate to be in that position.”
It was a good season for Draper who started the year with a maiden Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells which was followed by a final in Madrid.
However, injury derailed his season which led to a disappointing Wimbledon and ultimately ended up wit the US Open being his final tournament of the year.
Normally someone who’s returning from a long absence would set some small goals but that doesn’t apply to Draper.
The British number one wants to catch up with Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner as the Brit believes he can make a big step towards that goal this season, “Right now, I am obviously behind, you know, the start of last year, I was building my way up,” Draper stated.
“I think obviously this injury has set me back a little bit, just in terms of the fact that I haven’t competed for a while and at the same time, it has made me more resilient and made me learn a lot about my game.
“So I think the next year and a half, two years is going to be very interesting for me because I feel like I have a lot to improve, a lot to develop and a lot of experience still to come, which maybe they have over me.
“But I have full belief in myself that I can reach the very top of the game.”
The first thing for Draper is Dubai where he starts his campaign on Monday afternoon against qualifier and last year’s semi-finalist Quentin Halys.
