Detective Draper On Exploring The World

British lefty Jack Draper has done his talking on the court this season, earning victories against Stefanos Tsitsipas and Felix Auger-Aliassime en route to his current career-high No. 41 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

The 20-year-old is competing at the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals this week, earning his maiden match win on Wednesday. But what is Draper like off-court? ATPTour.com caught up with him to find out.

If you weren’t a tennis player, what job would you want and why?
I would be a detective. I’ve always been fascinated by crime. In a good way, of course. I feel like it would be quite an adrenaline rush of a job. And I like that sort of stuff. I like a lot of crime shows, but I’ve got nothing left to watch. I think I’ve completed it.

If you could have dinner with three people, who would they be and why?
There are a lot of controversial ones in there. I’d probably say Donald Trump. Conor McGregor. feel like we’ve got to have a comedian in there as well to liven it up a bit. So, I’d probably say Jimmy Carr. I think Trump and McGregor are fascinating people. They obviously got to the pinnacle of what they’ve done. Very successful. I just think it would be a lot of fun.

Describe your perfect day if you are not playing tennis?
My perfect day would be to wake up a bit later. I would see some friends, play a bit of Xbox and chill out, and then definitely as the day goes on, maybe 4pm, go out and have a few drinks. And then maybe have a nice meal and just be with good people and just have a great time.

Having a good solid dinner somewhere. Maybe a curry or something. Just enjoying the moment I suppose.

Who has had the greatest impact on your life and why?
I’d say there are so many people that have had a huge impact on my life, but I guess from a life perspective, not necessarily tennis, I’d say my mum. I love my mum to bits.

She’s everything to me. And she’s taught me pretty much all I know about my values as a human being. And she’s always been incredibly supportive of my journey as a tennis player as well. So she’s given me all these opportunities over the years and hopefully from now on I can start looking after her.

What is the most interesting thing you have done in your life?

I think the most interesting thing in my life compared to a lot of other people’s lives is I’ve had the ability to travel the world.

Whether I’ve gone to good places or not-so-amazing places, I’ve been to so many. I was thinking to myself the other day how many countries I’ve been to, which probably don’t even think about or register in my own mind as I’ve been there. I reckon I’ve probably been to 50-plus countries and experienced a lot of the world in good ways and in bad ways.

So I suppose that’s one thing compared to a lot of other people my age is that and it’s pretty specialist that I’ve been able to travel the world and see a lot of things. It’s amazing.

If you had to choose between attending a music concert or a sporting event, what would you choose and why?
I would go to a football game. Like a Celtic vs. Rangers or Man United vs. Man City or a Man United vs. Liverpool match. I think the atmosphere at a high-level sporting event is something special. As a fellow athlete, it always gives me the motivation to go and see other athletes and high performers do what they do best.

Have you got a hidden talent and can you tell me a bit about how you got into that?
It’s not really talent, but I’m terrible at cards. I’ve just started playing on my recent trips away. And I know cards are a bit of a luck game, but I can’t win anything.
I’m not unlucky anymore. I’m just bad at the game. My hidden talent is, I’m embarrassingly bad at cards.