Jack Draper is back on the tennis scene, and he’s making waves at the 2024 Vienna Open.
After battling numerous injuries throughout his career, this year has been a turning point for him as he managed to stay mostly healthy on the ATP Tour. Though not completely free from minor setbacks, Draper has shown resilience in overcoming these challenges.
Recently, after reaching the US Open semi-finals, he had to retire from a quarter-final match in Tokyo and withdrew from the Shanghai Masters. It seemed like another injury break was looming. But surprise! His name appeared in the Vienna Open draw.
| Name | Age | Points | Stats 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| gb Jack Draper | 22 | 1,131 | 13 - 12 |
Vienna Open: A New Challenge
Facing former World No. 4 Kei Nishikori in the first round of this ATP 500 tournament was no easy task. Yet Draper emerged victorious with scores of 7-6(5), 7-5, setting up a second-round clash with Luciano Darderi. Fans might think Draper’s comeback is truly inspiring!
Darderi had just ended Dominic Thiem’s career with a win but was struggling with a seven-match losing streak before that. Despite Darderi’s efforts, Draper played at an entirely different level.
In their first set battle, both players served brilliantly—Darderi hit seven aces while landing 85% of his first serves; meanwhile, Draper delivered an astonishing 14 aces and won every single point on his first serve! One might expect such serving prowess to lead to a tiebreaker—but it didn’t happen here.
Draper’s return game shone too; although he missed two break points earlier in the set, he seized another opportunity later on by breaking Darderi’s serve to take control at 6-5—and then coolly sealed it with four consecutive aces for a 7-5 finish.
The second set saw him continue his momentum by breaking Darderi right away and holding serve despite facing one break point himself—the only one during their match! With no more chances for Darderi and his own serve faltering (just one ace), Draper cruised through to win convincingly at 7-5, 6-1.
Now advancing into quarter-finals action awaits against either Grigor Dimitrov or Tomas Machac—who do you think will triumph next?
