GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Draper's painful climb to top served him better than Emma's rapid rise

- Neil McLeman

THEY both made their Grand Slam breakthroughs in the Big Apple and, like Emma Raducanu’s “dream run” in 2021, Jack Draper has yet to drop a set on his way to the semi-finals.

Teenage qualifier Raducanu went on to lift the US Open title without facing a top-10 player, while the British No.1 now faces world No.1 Jannik Sinner before, hopefully, facing an American home favourite in the final.

And there are other significant similarities in the stories of the two British youngsters.

Grammar school girl Raducanu, who had taken her A levels months earlier, shot to fame and fortune at 18 but has suffered three years of injuries, coaching changes and inconsistent form.

She is now world No.72 having broken down in tears after a first-round defeat here last month.

Private schoolboy Draper, son of former LTA chief executive Roger, was seen as a potential star even before reaching the Wimbledon junior final in 2018. But a long list of ailments – a shoulder injury sustained at the French Open last year ruled him out of Wimbledon – has stymied his career.