Jack Draper makes history with Next Gen ATP Finals qualification
Jack Draper has become the first British man to qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals following his European Open campaign.
The 20-year-old began the season ranked 265th in the world and with just two tour wins to his name. Now ranked 48th, Draper boasts a 16-10 record after Antwerp. There he breezed past fellow youngster Jenson Brooksby 6-1, 6-2 before losing a tough contest with top seed Hubert Hurkacz.
Four Challenger titles before the end of April took Draper to inside the world’s top 150. The British youngster has landed impressive results on the main tour since. They include two top 10 wins over Stefanos Tsitsipas in Cincinnati and Felix Auger-Aliassime at the US Open.
Jack Draper qualified third for the event behind Lorenzo Musetti and Holger Rune, both of whom made their event debut in 2021. Previous champions Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are both still age eligible and have enough points to qualify but have withdrawn from the event.
Draper’s qualification for Milan makes Great Britain the 17th different nation represented at the Next Gen ATP Finals since its inception in 2017. Behind the Brit Brandon Nakashima, Jiri Lehecka, Chun-hsin Tseng and Francesco Passaro occupy the remaining qualification spots.
Stefanos Tsitsipas won the 2018 tournament before winning the ATP Finals the very next year on his debut. World number one Alcaraz has the chance to emulate the Greek after winning the Next Gen Finals in 2021.
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