Andy Murray feels British tennis is in good hands with Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper as he has tipped the two British youngsters to have “a bright future.” Raducanu, 19, is already a Grand Slam champion as she wrote tennis history when she became the first qualifier to win a Major at the 2021 US Open.
On the men’s side, 20-year-old Draper is enjoying a career-high ranking of No 41 in the world. This year, Draper made his first ATP semifinal in Eastbourne, reached his first Masters quarterfinal in Montreal, and also won four Challenges titles.
This week, Draper is aiming to win the Next Gen ATP Finals. “Jack has got huge potential and only done six or seven months on tour. I’ve been lucky to practise with him and spend time with him. The future’s really bright for him but also with Emma Raducanu.
And there’s a couple of junior prospects on the women’s side that the coaches are pretty excited about,” Murray told the Evening Standard.
Murray identifies what needs to change
In the same interview, Murray admitted that he wasn’t happy with how his 2022 season ended.
Last week, Murray stunningly lost to Gilles Simon in the Paris Masters first round despite being up by a set and having a chance to serve out for the match in the second set. Now, Murray admits that if he wants to perform on the level he would, he needs to improve his fitness level.
“I was pretty downbeat with the last few months. The last seven or eight tournaments, I had issues with cramping and I’ve never had that consistently. So, I’m extremely disappointed. I can deal with losing a tennis match as it’s a difficult sport and you sometimes don’t perform as well as you’d like but there’s no excuse for being let down physically.
My reflection on the last four or five months is that I’ve not been doing enough work to perform at the level I need to. I need to change that if I want to get back to the top of the game,” Murray said.