'I BELONG AT THE TOP LEVEL — I FEEL I CAN DO ANYTHING AND BEAT THE BEST'

British No. 1 Jack Draper enters Wimbledon as one of the favourites. We speak to him and rivals Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner about his chances of joining them as a grand-slam champion.

- By Matt Verri

Jack Draper's reminder of his new-found place among the tennis elite came with a tap on the shoulder in a Wimbledon changing room last year.

He arrived at SW19 and made his way upstairs to secure his locker ahead of the championships, laying out his kit and settling into his temporary base. It was only then that Draper was informed he should be downstairs in a separate locker room for the seeded players, an exclusive club the Briton had joined at a Grand Slam for the first time.

There will be no wrong turns this year, Draper fully aware of where he belongs. The 23-year-old arrives at Wimbledon not just as a seed but as a genuine title contender after climbing to fourth in the world rankings.

Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are the sport's leading men, having split the past six Grand Slams between them, but Draper has wins over both to his name and this could be the year in which he closes the gap. Draper has a 4-2 losing record to Alcaraz and is 1-1 head-to-head with the Italian but lost in straight sets to Sinner in the US Open semi-finals last year and retired when two-sets down against Alcaraz in Melbourne in January.

Alcaraz and Sinner played out a remarkable French Open final, won by the Spaniard in five hours and 29 minutes, making clear that beating either over best-of-five sets is as difficult as it gets. Thankfully for Draper, it is a task he will not face until the semi-finals at Wimbledon, as a result of being the fourth seed. There are, of course, five wins that need be earned before that becomes relevant, which Draper has been keen to point out, and he is also strikingly modest when discussing the challenge posed by the pair.