Andy Murray believes Jack Draper will be able to deal with the high expectations he faces at next week’s Wimbledon Championships.
Draper, who is the only British man currently ranked inside the world’s top 50, enters the Grand Slam seeded fourth in the draw. The highest seeding at The All England Club for a home player since 2017 when Murray was No.1 in the world. Draper will be making his fourth main draw appearance at Wimbledon, and he is yet to win back-to-back matches at the tournament, having lost in the second round on his two previous occasions.
However, the 23-year-old has rapidly risen up the ranks in recent months. Since January, Draper has won his maiden Masters 1000 title in Indian Wells and reached the final of another in Madrid. He was also runner-up to Andrey Rublev at the Qatar Open. Overall, he has won 28 out of 36 Tour-level matches so far this season.
“He has obviously shot up the rankings and had some amazing wins,” Murray said of Draper during an event marking the completion of the LTA’s Park Tennis Project.
“It will obviously be a little bit different this year coming in as a top seed but he’ll deal with it well. He’s played in difficult environments and under pressure before, and I’m sure he’ll cope with it well.”
Murray is the only British man in the Open Era to have won the Wimbledon singles title, lifting the trophy in 2013 and 2016. To mark his accomplishments, The All England Club will unveil a statue in his honour at the 2027 Championships.
As for this year’s tournament, Murray currently has no plans to attend. However, this could change should Draper make it through to the final.
“I’m not missing [tennis] yet. Maybe when Wimbledon starts I might feel differently,” he said.
“I have got no plans to go. Maybe if there was a British player in the final or something I might go along to watch, but I’m not planning on going.”
Murray added that he could be persuaded to attend if his children wanted to go. He has four children aged between four and nine with his wife Kim.
The Wimbledon draw ceremony will take place on Friday morning from 10:00 am local time.
