{"id":1697,"date":"2025-06-21T07:11:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T07:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1697\/"},"modified":"2025-06-21T07:11:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T07:11:10","slug":"the-biggest-change-in-jack-drapers-tennis-in-2025-has-been-revealed-by-great-britains-davis-cup-captain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1697\/","title":{"rendered":"The ‘biggest change’ in Jack Draper’s tennis in 2025 has been revealed by Great Britain’s Davis Cup captain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jack Draper\u2019s remarkable 2025 season keeps getting better, as he continues to impress at Queen\u2019s.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Draper won his first Masters 1000 title<\/a> at Indian Wells, defeating Denmark\u2019s Holger Rune in the final.<\/p>\n

Moving on to clay, some questioned whether the Brit would be able to reach those same heights, questions he answered when Draper reached the final of the Madrid Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"JackPhoto by OSCAR DEL POZO\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Attempting to reach a final on all three surfaces in 2025, Draper made a strong start at the Queen\u2019s Club Championships<\/a>, beating Jenson Brooksby and Alexei Popyrin to advance to the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

There, Draper took down Brandon Nakashima<\/a> 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 to advance to his first semi-final at Queen\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Reacting to Draper\u2019s latest win, the 23-year-old\u2019s Davis Cup<\/a> captain highlighted the biggest change he\u2019s made to his game in 2025.<\/p>\n

Leon Smith says Jack Draper has started to come forward more in 2025<\/p>\n

Working as a co-commentator for BBC Sport, Great Britain\u2019s Davis Cup captain Leon Smith shared his thoughts on Draper<\/a> after the match.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the biggest change this year. I know James Trotman, his coach, has worked extremely hard at this,\u201d said Smith.<\/p>\n

\u201cJack [Draper] actually liked extending the points beforehand because he is an amazing competitor, but this year we have seen the forehand and the ability to get forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has a monster serve, so he is going to get so many looks at a forehand he can attack, but the ability to come forward [has helped him].<\/p>\n

\"JackPhoto by Julian Finney\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cHe also has the feel around the net and has a great drop shot as well, which can work well on clay, but on grass it can work really, really well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith was particularly impressed with how Draper approached set point in the first, comparing it to a shot he made against Popyrin<\/a> on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I liked about this is that we saw it yesterday against Popyrin, the 5-5 point in the breaker. Backhand up the line and come in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is what I said to him when I saw him in the player lounge afterwards. That point, you go back 12 months ago, he maybe wasn\u2019t prepared to step in and be the bravest.<\/p>\n

\"JackPhoto by Clive Brunskill\/Getty Images for ITF<\/p>\n

\u201cNow he has done such an amazing job of understanding, no matter what the moment, I am going to be the one who steps in and takes that opportunity, and I think he is doing it brilliantly now.\u201d<\/p>\n

1977 Australian Open<\/a> finalist John Lloyd was keen to weigh in with his thoughts, explaining what Draper does that he finds \u2018amazing\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is so brave. There is no fear factor. It\u2019s incredible,\u201d said Lloyd<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe takes the ball on and is so confident in his ability, and so many times he can get himself out of trouble with these big shots. It\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fans of the Brit will no doubt hope to see him hit some more \u2018big shots\u2019 when he returns for his semi-final match with Jiri Lehecka<\/a> on Saturday, June 21.<\/p>\n

How well has Jack Draper performed at the Davis Cup?<\/p>\n

Smith was pleased to see Draper reach the semi-finals and may well be feeling quietly confident of his team\u2019s chances at the Davis Cup over the next few years, should the 23-year-old choose to participate.<\/p>\n

But how has Draper performed at the \u2018World Cup of tennis\u2019 throughout his career?<\/p>\n\nMatch<\/strong><\/td>\nOpponent<\/strong><\/td>\nResult<\/strong><\/td>\nScore<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n2024 Davis Cup Finals -GS<\/td>\nFelix Auger-Aliassime<\/td>\nLoss<\/td>\n6-7, 5-7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n2024 Davis Cup Finals -GS<\/td>\nFrancisco Cerundolo<\/td>\nLoss<\/td>\n6-7, 5-7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n2023 Davis Cup Finals \u2013 QF<\/td>\nMiomir Kecmanovic<\/td>\nLoss<\/td>\n6-7, 6-7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n2023 Davis Cup Finals \u2013 <\/td>\nThanasi Kokkinakis<\/td>\nWin<\/td>\n6-7, 6-3, 7-6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Jack Draper\u2019s Davis Cup record<\/p>\n

The Brit has only won one of his four matches at the Davis Cup, beating Thanasi Kokkinakis<\/a> on his debut in 2023.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

For a player of Draper\u2019s calibre, a 1-3 record at any event isn\u2019t good enough, something he\u2019d likely admit himself.<\/p>\n

A better player now than he was in 2023 and 2024, it\u2019s hard to imagine he will have a losing record at the Davis Cup for much longer.<\/p>\n

Having lost to Japan earlier this year, Great Britain will take on Poland in a relegation play-off this September, a tie Draper could well participate in.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jack Draper\u2019s remarkable 2025 season keeps getting better, as he continues to impress at Queen\u2019s. Earlier this year,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[1479,2342,1468,2343,62,1464,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-1697","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-atp","9":"tag-davis-cup","10":"tag-jack-draper","11":"tag-leon-smith","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-tennis","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114720112118867141","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}