US Open 2024: Jack Draper staying cool on his run to New York semi-finals

Draper, born and raised in Surrey, comes from strong tennis stock.

His mother Nicky – who the player credits as one of his biggest influences – is a coach and former junior champion, while father Roger was the chief executive of the Lawn Tennis Association.

Older brother Ben was a former college player in the United States and now looks after his sibling’s interests as his agent.

Thumping a tennis ball against the garage door at the age of one, which his mother says happened because he was copying his brother, was the first sign that Draper possessed the talent.

A few years later, she took the boys down to Weybridge Tennis Academy where Sherring – a long-time friend of the Drapers – was the lead coach.

“I thought we were going to focus on Ben, so I had a hit and he was pretty good,” Sherring said.

“Nicky asked if I could have a hit with Jack because they were looking for a coach for him. I said ‘yes, but he’s quite little and quite young’.

“A hundred shots later I went ‘wow’.”

Draper stayed under Sherring’s tutelage for the next decade and the pair travelled around the world to hone the player’s craft against other prodigiously talented youngsters.

Largely they trotted around Europe, as well as trips to the Orange Bowl and ITF events in India.

Ensuring Draper maintained his education was a key priority for his mother, however, who asked Sherring to teach him 10 words each day.

“Depending what mood I was in, or what mood he was in, I would think of a word that he might have been that day, like obstinate,” he laughed.

“He’d ask what it meant and I’d say ‘well, you’ve been it all day, look it up and come back to me’.”

The teenager, however, only wanted to study tennis.

Travelling back from losing to a Russian youngster at an event in Sweden, Draper questioned why he was still going to school when his opponent was already training professionally.

That was the beginning of his transition from leaving Reed’s – an independent boys’ school in Surrey which also counts Tim Henman and Hollywood actor Tom Hardy as notable alumni – to home education.

“He started wondering what he was going to school for, why he is hanging out with other kids, why he is doing what others are doing, it was frustrating for him,” said Sherring.

“Then he lost to some muppet – in his words – after flying halfway across the world.

“But that’s how it goes. You wouldn’t see the warrior you see now if it had been all sunshine and roses, or strawberries and cream.

“It is nice to see a lovely boy doing what he is doing. There is a lot of love in the team and in the family. We all feel a great deal of love for him.”