After beating Djokovic, Norrie said Draper had sent him a text message with a reminder that he was still in the top spot, although the next day the positions were reversed.
“I didn’t look at the rankings for a very long time,” Draper said, adding: “In press, after I played Novak, they said ‘you’re still going to be British No 1’, and that was the first time I thought about it. So I messaged him [Norrie] and said, ‘I’m still holding on to it for a little bit longer’.
“It’s not like a competition, I’m really happy to see Cam back playing good tennis and playing at a great level, which I think he’s doing, and I think it’s really healthy to have a bit of that, pushing each other to do better.”
The frenetic nature of a tennis tour, which includes almost 11 months on the road, can mean there is little time to reflect on things. For Draper, the opportunity to think back to the milestone win over Djokovic, a player he has admired since he was a child and refers to as “the best of all time”, came on a plane.
“I’ve played against Andy [Murray], Rafa [Nadal], Novak, these were three of the big four, the ones I was looking up to, the ones I was watching since I was young,” he said.
“On the flight over here [to Miami], it was the first time I thought about it and to have that achievement is obviously something that I’ll always be immensely proud of.”