A|n up and coming British tennis prospect has credited fellow British starlet Emma Raducanu for motivating him to get to an “incredible place” with the 20-year-old set to play his second Wimbledon main draw. The Brit also cited Spanish sensation Carlos Alcaraz as a “benchmark”.

Despite his second round loss at the Cinch championships to Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori, the 20-year-old Jack Draper is coming off a career defining week.

On Monday, he earned the biggest win of his career over world number 14 and fourth seed Taylor Fritz in the opening round at the Queen’s club and also on the same day broke the world’s top 100 for the first time reaching number 99 in the world.

Then he is set for a second main draw appearance at Wimbledon later this month, having taken the first set off of eventual-champion Novak Djokovic last year on debut.

Discussing his good form and what underpins his motivation, Jack Draper credited Emma Raducanu for serving as his motivation after her run to the second week of Wimbledon as a 338th ranked wild card, as well as her heroic triumph in the US Open.

Draper told reporters in a recent interview, “It was a big motivation to see Emma (Raduacanu) win. Inspired me for sure”.

“I think watching her do something special, made me think as someone in a tough place who was injured, I saw her do well and thought I could do that. Not to the same extent maybe as the women’s game is a bit younger, so you can do that a bit younger, but definitely shows you can go from a tough place to an incredible place quickly.”

Draper mentioned that he also uses Carlos Alcaraz as his “benchmark” with the Spaniard being one of the form players on the ATP tour in 2022 having won four titles – including two Masters 1000 titles.

“Alcaraz is very special. I see him as a benchmark kind of player. That is who I am judging myself against. His standards, his work rate and the way he plays.”

“Watching someone like that you can learn a lot and I hope one day I will be competing for big titles against him.”

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