Daily Times

Jack Draper reached his maiden Grand Slam semi-final at the US Open on Wednesday, becoming the first British man to make the last four since Andy Murray won the title 12 years ago and insisted: “I knew my time would come”.

Draper, the world number 25, defeated 10th-ranked Alex de Minaur of Australia 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 and goes on to face either top seed Jannik Sinner or 2021 champion Daniil Medvedev for a place in Sunday’s final.

It’s an achievement that a little over a year ago would have seemed unlikely.

Starting 2023 at 38 in the world, Draper then suffered multiple shoulder injuries and missed huge chunks of the season, including most of the clay swing and all of the grass court season. His ranking slipped out of the top 100, forcing him onto the second-tier Challenger circuit before a confidence-boosting run to the last 16 at the US Open.

Twelve months on, he is on the verge of the top 20 and the biggest match of his career coming up on Friday on the world’s biggest tennis stadium.

“Last year was a real turning point for me, when I had my injury setbacks and taking a lot of time off over the summer because of my shoulder injury,” said Draper.

“I had to watch all these young, amazing players winning amazing tournaments. But I knew that my time would come. I didn’t know when it would be, but hopefully from here I can do a lot of amazing things. I’m very proud of myself.”

The 22-year-old left-hander pulled off victory on Wednesday despite taking a medical timeout early in the second set to have his right thigh bandaged.

But he was quick to allay concerns that the injury may be an issue for Friday’s semi-final.

“At the end of the day it didn’t get any worse, and I felt good towards the end,” said the Briton who had lost three times in three meetings with De Minaur before Wednesday.