Wimbledon 2024: Echoes of Andy Murray as Jack Draper comes through marathon opener

Jack Draper had said in the build-up to Wimbledon that he was ready to take over the mantle of Andy Murray.

This wasn’t quite late-into-the-night Murray dramatics on Centre Court to battle with the local council’s curfew times.

And yet Murray’s heir apparent had almost every facet from the Murray playbook, apt when it should have been the Scot playing the final match on Centre before his morning withdrawal from the singles.

There was a dropped first set having been a break up, a loss in the fourth when victory looked to be in sight, vocal self-recriminations, shouts of “come on” and finally at the end of it all victory over Elias Ymer, the scoreline 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

Draper makes no secret of how much he leans on Murray as a practice partner, confidant and advisor on the 22-year-old’s still early tennis journey.

One of the Murray mantras to him has been “focus on the process, not the outcome”, guidance the recently crowned British No1 did not necessarily adhere to in the opening set.

He broke in the very first game of the match, only to be broken straight back having led 40-15 when he bizarrely decided to produce a shot between his legs when a regular forehand would have sufficed.

It felt like a bit of youthful exuberance on tennis’ biggest stage, and a move which eventually proved costly.

Perhaps Draper slightly took his opponent for granted early on. After all, Ymer had never won a tour match on the grass – unthinkable bearing in mind the performance he produced - while Draper had never lost a Tour match to a player ranked so lowly, in the Swede’s case 205th in the world.

Ymer got another chance to break when leading 4-3, which he duly took and not long after rounded off the set.

It led to murmurings from the stands of an early upset for the only British seed ranked at Wimbledon, but the setback almost seemed to settle Draper.

He made a pledge to himself earlier this year to trust in a more aggressive approach to join the world’s elite and was true to his word as the match progressed.

Come the second set, he more readily approached the net as well as mixing drop shots with heavy forehands, causing Ymer to feel rushed.

Ymer still arguably had the better break chances but could not convert the three on offer throughout the set. Draper, in contrast, had just one shot and was clinical with it.

Ymer took the only break point he had to level set three when he had been broken early on, but Draper raised his level again to comfortably take that in the end.

With the end in sight, Draper was broken late in the fourth, Ymer held and a deciding set loomed, albeit with a break for the roof to be closed in the fading south-west London light.

Much to the delight of a fervent home crowd, he got the early break, the win and crucially showed none of the fatigue that has been an issue in his previous lengthy matches.

Watching Draper, it’s odd to think he has never made it past the second round at Wimbledon and standing in his way in that task is the player he replaced as British No1, Cameron Norrie, after his own straight set win.