“It’s been a long year with lots of ups and downs,” for the British tennis star, Jack Draper. He started the season reaching the final of the Adelaide Internation and then won titles in Vienna and Stuttgart before making an impressive SF run at the US Open. The 22-year-old Draper is now not only British number one but also put his name inside the Top 15 in men’s tennis. Talking about this incredible rise, apart from the enormous contribution of his parents, Draper’s grandparents also played a crucial role in his growing-up process, both as a player and a person. Recently, Jack Draper opened up about his love for his grandmother. What did he say, though?

During a recent interview with BBC Sport, Jack Draper opened up about his grandmother and her tumultuous battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Draper recently also took part in a Memory Walk to raise awareness about this horrible disease. His “nana”, as he calls her, has been living with this disease since 2015. Tennis has been a huge part of their family. His grandmother, Brenda, was a former tennis player and coach, who taught him the basics of the sport and supported him throughout his career. Jack Draper even said his grandmother was one of his biggest fans, but now she doesn’t recognize him or his achievements.

Even Jack Draper’s mother, Nicky, is a coach and former junior champion who trained him as a young boy and his uncle Jonathan was also a top player. His father, Roger Draper, was the former chief executive of the Lawn Tennis Association. However, recently, while talking about the role of his grandmother in his life, Jack Draper said, “She was a huge part of my development growing up in terms of my tennis but also just being an amazing grandma. Always had a trick up her sleeve for me, my brother, my cousins to keep us active when we were younger.“

Draper further added, “Telling us when we were out of line. Telling me what I should be doing better on the tennis court. Telling me when I’m behaving badly, which often happened. Just an amazing woman.” After that, Jack Draper went on to say a few lines about his grandmother’s long battle with Alzheimer’s and how she has been on a “slow deterioration” for about 11 years now. His grandfather, a retired chemist, Mr. Entract who has now spent almost 12 years caring for his wife, once spoke about how sad it is to see Brenda can’t appreciate their grandson’s success after their years of watching him train and cheering him on at competitions across the country.

During the same interview with BBC, Jack Draper added, “I remember we were talking the other day about stories when I was younger, she’d say ‘Get that ball toss-up, Jack‘. This is still something I’m trying to do now when I’m 22 years old and (ranked) 15 in the world. So maybe I need to start listening to what she used to say back in the day. I always know she’s there with me in spirit, even though she can’t understand what’s going on.” 

His grandparents had a decade-long dream of watching their grandson, Jack Draper play at the Wimbledon Championships. Draper took part in this year’s tournament, but he faced an early exit at the hands of his countryman, Cameron Norrie in the second round. Now, with the 2025 season knocking at the door, Jack Draper will be keen to get a good start to his campaign next season. How is his preparation for the 2025 AO, though?

British star, Jack Draper shares his off-season plans ahead of the 2025 AO

Last year, Jack Draper reached the second round of the AO. This year, he will probably be looking to make a much deeper run. However, we saw him suffering from multiple injuries and health issues throughout the season. So, he revealed that he’s now putting in an extra effort to know his body. During a recent interview, Draper also spoke about how he plans to overcome his sickness issues along with injury problems which caused a few troubles for him this season.

We saw him battling with sickness during his US Open match against Jannik Sinner. He vomited three times during the match, having also been sick after his 2024 AO R1 win. Speaking on that, he added, “I think that stuff will just clear up with more experience.“

While taking a look back at his journey, he added, “And what happened, but I suppose with more experience, more learnings on the tour as I get older… I feel like I’ve changed so much as a person in the last six months, three months what have you, so I’m hoping that as time goes on I’ll be able to manage these things better and become the player I want to be, and hopefully winning these big tournaments.” Do you think Jack Draper can win big titles in the 2025 season and fulfill all the wishes of his grandparents?