French Open 2025: Jack Draper’s rise ‘insane’ says next opponent Alexander Bublik

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French Open 2025: Jack Draper’s rise ‘insane’ says next opponent Alexander Bublik

In 23-year-old Draper, British tennis fans believe they may just have found their next serial Grand Slam contender.

British former world number four Tim Henman told BBC Sport recently that Draper’s best attributes – his left-handed serve and crunching forehand – could “work on any surface”.

Prior to this year, though, Draper had never won a match at the clay-court major with most of his success coming on hard courts or grass.

However, he has made huge strides on the surface this season and reached his first clay final in Madrid in April.

Managing to avoid the injuries that have plagued him in the past has enabled Draper to reach a significantly higher level of fitness, which has been key to his improvement on the slower surface.

Now just the world number 62 stands between him and another Grand Slam quarter-final.

And while Draper has enjoyed the best year of his career, Bublik fell from a high of 17th in the rankings in 2024 to as low as 82nd in March.

That prompted a radical change of approach that led to the Kazakh taking a trip to Las Vegas that month to blow off some steam.

“My fall was not linked with lack of attitude and lack of practising,” he said.

“It was the exact opposite. I just burned out because I was waiting for the results to come.

“I was like, if I practise more, if I hit better forehands, it will come. It didn’t, and then I got to the point of ‘OK, why am I sacrificing so much? For what?'”

Asked if the trip to Nevada was a training trip, Bublik added: “No, Vegas, Vegas, like a hangover thing Vegas.

“It was a good three days. I had just let it all out. I said, I’m useless now, I can’t win a match, so let it be, let’s see how it goes.”

It worked as Bublik won his next event, the Challenger tournament in Phoenix, Arizona, having arrived from Vegas three hours before his first match. He also triumphed on clay in Turin last month.

The 27-year-old is slowly climbing the rankings again – but Draper will be keen to ensure a first Grand Slam quarter-final appearance has to wait.

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