By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday May 4, 2025
Jack Draper, top-notch clay-courter? You wouldn’t have heard many pundits make the proclamation prior to his run to the Madrid final, but now that the 23-year-old Brit has turned in his best ever performance on the red clay, many are convinced that we are seeing the beginning of Draper’s rise on the surface.
He was 10-12 lifetime on the surface prior to this week, but after powering into the final of the Madrid Masters the days of sub-optimal clay-court results could be well and truly in the rearview.
Most important, Draper himself believes the narrative.
“I just needed to get my foot in the door somewhere to show that I'm able to compete to a really high level on this surface,” said Draper.
After notching his first career Top-20 wins on the surface, Draper thinks he’s just at the tip of the iceberg.
“I think this week has shown that, and it's shown it to myself, shown it to others,” he said, adding that he still has plenty of room for growth. “I think still the biggest positive I'm taking away is the fact that I'm still learning how to move and play on this surface, and I'm right there. I'm competing with, you know, the best clay courters, the best guys on this surface in the world.
“I take big encouragement from that, and I hope that I can carry on that next week in Rome, [then at] the French.”
Victorious Casper Ruud said what many of us were thinking while on the podium after his 7-5 3-6 6-4 win over Draper in Sunday’s final.
"What a player you are, already at a young age, the player you've become on all surfaces,” Ruud said. “You're a threat to everyone now - doesn't matter where, doesn't matter when - I think sky is the limit for you. Luckily it was my day today."
Draper says that having success on clay might free him up on the faster surfaces, where he has historically been even more lethal. It certainly has done wonders for his ranking. The Brit will enter the Top-5 in Monday’s ATP ranking, as the fourth British man to ever join that elite group.
“I think that gives me also big confidence going into maybe a surface that's a bit faster, which I enjoy more,” he said. “To think, ‘Wow, I'm doing this on the clay, what can I take out onto the other surfaces as well.’”