Jack Draper has endured a trying summer, unable to push on after securing a career-best ranking of fifth in the world.
The past few months have been cruel to the 22-year-old, forced to watch the tour unfold from the sidelines as injury has once again derailed his campaign.
He has missed tournaments in Washington, Toronto and now Cincinnati, all with the hope of being fit enough to compete at the US Open.
With semi-finals points to defend, he certainly needs a good run to retain that aforementioned ranking.
However, despite his own injury struggles, it has ironically been his partners for the US Open mixed doubles competition that have continued to let him down.
At last, he seems to have settled on a reliable pick.
Jack Draper finds a new US Open mixed doubles partner
Initially, Jack Draper found himself partnered with Qinwen Zheng, in a union that was quite clearly born from sponsorship agreements.
Speaking about the Chinese star, he did admit: “Qinwen, I know from the tour. I have seen her around. Obviously a great player herself and has a really good game.
“I think it will be fun to get out there and play with her and see how we get on. Yeah, I think it was me who messaged through IMG. She’s with IMG as well. It was nice to get that sort of together and let’s see how we get on.”
However, with Zheng suffering an injury that has ruled her out of the US Open, Badosa was then drafted in to replace her.
Sadly, she too has pulled out of the final Grand Slam of the year, leaving Draper without a partner. That was, until he was finally handed the honour of joining forces with Jessica Pegula.
It’s still uncertain whether the Brit will be fit enough for this event, especially after Draper offered an injury update recently.
Jessica Pegula is an upgrade on Qinwen Zheng and Paula Badosa
Although it’s never nice to see players pull out of events, particularly Grand Slams, the absences of Zheng and Badosa have ended up gifting him arguably the most proficient doubles player available, in keeping with the US Open’s big-name policy.
After all, the American has played 380 doubles matches, more than both of Draper’s previous partners put together.
Not to mention that she was also once ranked first in the world as recently as 2023, having won seven titles and reached at least the quarter-finals of all four Grand Slams within this discipline.
She boasts vast experience at this level, and is a huge name in America.
Pegula is arguably the perfect candidate for this new US Open format, and will be a fine partner for Draper.
